[brudgers]

My beloved works in health care (currently with oncology patients, previously hospice and Alzheimer's). The idea of taking days off for mental health is pretty normal and well accepted within the industry. Then again, it's a culture where mental health is treated as a health issue and sucking it up for the dollar is recognized as unsustainable over the long term.

Well that and even the bosses are ready to acknowledge that the job people are paid to do sucks at least sometimes. Many industries and businesses pretend that that's not the case.

[maccard]

Anecdotal, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, I've a friend who works in healthcare in the UK. Even though the official line is that they're not to come in to work while ill, not turning up ends up putting them under an incredible amount of pressure, and they have to justify every sick day to the post where even when she had some quite serious issues she was still working rather than face up to her management

[brudgers]

There is a mental overhead from work piling up whenever a person in a line position takes a day off for whatever reason. Illness, vacation, holiday...it doesn't matter.