Mental health is nearly always seen as an individual issue requiring individual solutions. Yet in reality it’s as much a problem for groups and organizations.

One legacy of the COVID-19 crisis could be a revolution in how we measure mental health and promote recognition that our wellbeing depends very much on the groups we are part of.

This would also promote positives – and help us understand what makes groups thrive.

The COVID-19 crisis has seriously damaged mental health all over the world. A high price has been paid by many children who’ve missed out on time with friends and school, and many of the elderly have felt isolated. The challenges and solutions are well documented by the International Public Policy Observatory on COVID.

But the crisis is also shining a light on the stresses faced by employees. In the UK, new evidence on health workers shows that nearly half of those working in intensive care units suffered from severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or harmful use of alcohol. There may be similar patterns in other groups on the front-line, but we just don’t know. And this is highlighting a bigger problem in how we look at mental health. It is nearly always seen as an individual issue requiring individual solutions.

Yet in reality it’s as much a problem for groups and organizations.

In everyday conversation we often talk of toxic cultures and of dysfunctional organizations. We know that individuals who join such organizations are powerfully affected by them: collective mental health influences individual mental health. There can be a pervasive culture where employees are depressed, deluded, or prone to compulsive behaviours.

Read the full article about repairing mental health after COVID-19 by Geoff Mulgan at Skoll Foundation.