Mental Health Disclosure

Course Overview

With one in five Australians experiencing a mental illness each year, it is extremely likely that managers will experience an employee telling them at some point that they have a mental illness.

This course has therefore been developed to help managers understand their responsibilities regarding the disclosure of mental illnesses. This course will also look at how managers can provide support and implement workplace adjustments for employees with a mental illness.

This course complements the Mental Health Awareness course which looks at the most common mental illnesses and employee responsibilities surrounding mental illness.

Key Content

• Employees’ obligations to disclose mental illness;
• Different forms of mental illness disclosure;
• Instances in which disclosure of a mental illness may occur;
• Managers’ responsibilities following a disclosure;
• Understanding and employee’s mental illness;
• Reasonable workplace adjustments;
• Sick leave associated with mental illness;
• Disclosing an employee’s mental illness to their colleagues;
• Disclosure of mental illness during the recruitment process;
• Addressing performance concerns of an employee with a mental illness;
• Addressing safety concerns of an employee that is suicidal.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this course, learners should be able to:

• Discuss the legal rights of employees surrounding mental health disclosure;
• Identify and discuss the different ways in which a disclosure of mental illness may occur;
• Explain their responsibilities following the disclosure of a mental illness by an employee;
• Identify how to manage some of the workplace issues that may result when an employee is experiencing a mental illness.