Destigmatizing Mental Health in the Workplace: A Union-Based Occupational Stress Program

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of an innovative program aimed at training union activists to become mental health primary prevention agents and organizers in their workplaces. The three-year occupational stress training project is described and analyzed, and its successes and failures are examined in light of relevant theories of health education and community organization. The training program attempted to combine psychological theories of group dynamics and individual change with community organization and social change strategies. The project is viewed as successful to the extent that it included the trainees in the planning and implementation of strategies and activities in their own unions. It fell short, however, of its goal of “de-stigmatizing” mental health in the participating unions. The contradictions between training group facilitators and community organizers are examined. The experience of this union program points up the need for the continued development of practical and theoretical links between personal and political change.

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