Mental fitness and resilience are both important concepts when it comes to our mental health and well-being. However, there is a key difference between the two. Mental fitness is proactive, meaning that you take action to maintain and improve your mental well-being. Resilience, on the other hand, is reactive. This means that you can only demonstrate resilience as a result of something adverse that you’ve experienced.
What is Mental Fitness?
Mental fitness is the ability to manage your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours in a healthy way. It’s about having the skills and resources you need to cope with stress, challenges, and adversity. Mental fitness is not just about avoiding mental health problems. It’s also about thriving and living a fulfilling life.
There are many things you can do to improve your mental fitness. These include:
Practising mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment without judgment. It can help you to calm your mind and body and to better manage stress.
Building strong relationships: Strong relationships can provide us with support and connection, which are essential for our mental health.
Engaging in activities you enjoy: Doing things you enjoy can help to boost your mood and reduce stress.
Taking care of your physical health: Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep are all important for our overall health, including our mental health.
What is Resilience?
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity. It’s about having the strength and flexibility to adapt to change, and to overcome challenges. Resilience is not about being immune to stress or hardship. It’s about how we respond to these challenges.
There are many things you can do to build your resilience. These include:
Developing a positive mindset: A positive mindset can help you to see challenges as opportunities for growth.
Learning from your experiences: When you face challenges, take the time to reflect on what you learned. This will help you to be better prepared for the future.
Reaching out for help: If you’re struggling to cope with a challenge, don’t be afraid to reach out for help from friends, family, or a professional.
What Happens When Workplaces Only Focus on Resilience?
When workplaces only focus on resilience, they are essentially saying that it’s okay to experience stress and adversity. This can lead to employees feeling like they have to tough it out, and that they can’t ask for help. This can be harmful to employee mental health, and it can also lead to decreased productivity and performance. We see so many workplaces run short resilience programs with the mindset that because they have attended they must be resilient now….. right?
Why is It Important to Focus on Mental Fitness?
Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness. When we’re mentally fit, we’re better able to cope with stress, challenges, and adversity. We’re also more likely to be happy, productive, and engaged in our work. Happy and healthy employees are more engaged, and productive. This allows us to attract and retain the best team and leads to a great brand reputation.
How Can Workplaces Promote Mental Fitness?
There are many things workplaces can do to promote mental fitness. These include:
Offer mental health fitness training to employees: This training can help employees to understand their mental health and to develop healthy coping skills.
Create a supportive work environment: A supportive work environment is one where employees feel psychologically safe and are comfortable asking for help, and where they are not stigmatized for mental health problems.
Provide access to resources: This could include Employee Assistance Programs, leadership training to allow for proactive mental health and well-being conversations, and stigma reduction.
At Mindseye Training and Consulting, we offer comprehensive Mental Fitness Training delivered by a registered psychologist
The Mental Fitness program is customizable and can run from 2.5 hours to a full day with a focus on either individuals or teams.
The training allows participants the opportunity to
- Understand and recognise the different levels of mental fitness
- Explore the fundamentals of what keeps us mentally fit
- Learn practical targeted psychological fitness strategies to use in everyday life
Audience: The Mental Fitness training program is designed for individuals and teams who want to improve their mental fitness.
Delivery: The training can be delivered online or face-to-face. It is designed for small to medium-sized groups (minimum of 6 and maximum of 12 for online training).
Duration: The training can be customized to the needs of the participants. The individual version of the training takes 1.5 hours, the team version takes 3-4 hours, and the full program takes 8 hours.
Outcomes: Participants will have a clear understanding of the levels and identifiers of mental fitness across 5 key domains. They will also be provided with an easy-to-use ‘Mental Fitness Roadmap’. They will also walk away with a targeted Mental Fitness Action Plan to immediately implement the key mental fitness actions (fundamentals, and psychological strategies) that are relevant to them.
Benefits of Mental Fitness Training:
- Improved mental health and well-being
- Increased resilience to stress and challenges
- Enhanced cognitive function and decision-making skills
- Improved productivity and performance
- Increased job satisfaction and engagement
- If you are interested in learning more about Mental Fitness training, please contact us today.
While early intervention programs are helpful, we have the most influence on our people when they are well. If you are interested in learning more about how we can assist your people to develop their mental fitness please get in touch at hello@mindseyetraining.com.au
