The finance sector is known for its long hours and intense work pressures. As such, mental health management is vital to your career and your personal happiness, but what exactly does mental health management mean? 
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In this article, we'll delve into mental health management, as well as explore some ways that you - and your employer - can manage your mental health as a financial professional.
What is Mental Health Management?
Mental health management is the process of self-evaluating, analysing, and improving your mental health. It helps you to identify habits or behaviors that negatively affect your work life.
It's important for financial professionals to take care of their own mental well-being, as dealing with something as crucial as a company's finances can cause stress, anxiety, and depression. In turn, this can lead to burnout among those who work in finance or accounting fields because they're constantly exposed to stressful situations on a daily basis.
Tips to Manage Your Mental Health Better as a Finance Professional
For finance professionals, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of work. However, to be productive and stay healthy, you need to devote time to your mental wellbeing.
Below, we’ve rounded up 5 simple ways you can start managing your mental health today.
1. Adopt a Holistic Approach to Job Satisfaction
A holistic approach to job satisfaction is integral to mental health management for financial professionals. It can help you see the positive aspects of your work and understand what contributes to your overall happiness.
Adopting a holistic approach to job satisfaction lies in identifying what makes you happy at work, understanding why it makes you happy, and then determining how you can do more of it.
For example, if interacting with co-workers gives you energy, think about ways to make sure that happens regularly, such as setting up regular lunch dates.
If you love variety in your job, consider how to add more tasks or responsibilities that will allow you to continue learning throughout the day.
2. Focus on Achieving a Better Work-Life Balance
In order to maintain a healthy work-life balance, you must first decide what exactly that means for you. Whatever your ideal balance looks like, you need to make sure it's attainable before pursuing it.
The best way to tell if your current work-life balance is unhealthy is by asking yourself three questions:
Are there times when I feel stressed? If so, why?
How do I feel about my job on the whole? Do I enjoy what I'm doing? Or am I just putting in time until retirement or a better offer comes along?
Do I have any hobbies outside of my career that help me relax and get away from work stressors?
3. Take Care of Your Physical Health for Better Mental Health
There are three main ways you should be taking care of your physical health, including exercise, sleep, and diet.
Exercise is a great way to improve your physical health and reduce stress levels. It’s recommended that you exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, five days per week. If you don’t have time for a full workout during the day, try doing 10-15 minutes of walking or jogging in the morning before heading off to work or in the evening after dinner.
Sleep is another key component of maintaining good physical health, as well as mental health. In fact, sleep deprivation has been linked with many symptoms associated with depression and other mood disorders, so if you feel tired during the day, talk to your doctor about treatment options that may help improve this issue.
A healthy diet is also vital to your overall health. Experts recommend that you eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables each day, as well as whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products.
4. Practice Guided Mindfulness or Meditation
Meditation and mindfulness are two techniques that can help you to reduce stress and improve your mental health.
Meditation has been shown to improve work performance, reduce anxiety and depression, and boost creativity, whereas mindfulness is a form of meditation that helps you focus on the present moment without judgment or analysis.
You can start by finding a guided meditation or mindfulness app designed for beginners.
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5. Speak Up if Your Mental Health is Suffering
If you’re experiencing stress or anxiety, speak up. This can be a difficult thing to do, but it’s important you let others know how you're feeling so they can help support you.
Employers may have resources available for mental health assistance specifically for financial professionals. In addition, there may be other ways your employer can help address these issues to keep them from impacting your work performance.
What Can Your Employer Do to Help with Your Mental Health Management?
Speaking of employers, what exactly can they do to help their workers manage their mental health?
Employers can assist their employees with mental health management in the following ways:
1. Provide Mental Health Training for Employees
This is an excellent way to educate everyone about the importance of mental health, and it helps new hires understand that their employer cares what they're going through.
2. Offer a Confidential Way to Seek Help
This could be in the form of an anonymous employee assistance program (EAP), or it could be a confidential hotline where employees can call and talk to someone who is trained in mental health. 
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3. Allow Flexible Work Arrangements
Some people find that working from home helps them stay focused and productive, while others may prefer to work at night when their children are asleep.
4. Provide Mental Health Days
This is an excellent way to help employees who are struggling with their mental health take care of themselves without having to worry about how much time off they have available.
5. Assist Finance Workers with Helpful Software
Finance workers have to deal with a lot of numbers and data, and they are often under pressure to make decisions quickly. This can result in a loss of productivity and an increase in stress levels, which can lead to mental health issues such as depression or anxiety.
To counteract this, employers should utilise helpful software within their company to automate time-consuming processes such as payroll, expense management, and invoice processing.
Proper Mental Health Management Begins with the Right Resources
While the financial industry is not immune to mental health challenges, it can be avoided with early detection and awareness.
Easy-to-use software like ExpenseIn streamline the expense management process and minimise stress, human error, and long working hours for financial professionals.
