Oh, hell yes.

I generally take one or two a year.

Most definitely. I can't ever really take them though, since my parents think that it's a weakness and if I'm at home when they expect me not to be--I get bitched at for being a slacker.

I never have the vacation time to spare and don't usually want to waste one on a single day. If I ever manage stay at a job long enough to accumulate vacation time, I might.

Also at my last job, vacation and sick days were all pooled together so if you took too many days off, you risked running out of sick days at the end of the year.

they are vital and humane

Per octothorpe's point, I should mention that since we're not given any holidays off, that gives me more vacation days than a lot of folks. Using time off this way is kind of expected in my job.

I never have, but when my mental well-being is skewed, work is often the best antidote.

The only job I've had that tracked such things was at the Office of Gov't Slack. I was there for two and a half years and had only called in sick three times.

Hell yes.

were it simply up to my boss and I, we both would definitely take more. We tend to be pretty loose and free with our interpretation of "work hours", too.

Sadly, our evil HR overlords have recently made "taking time off" such a byzantine and complex process (if you take more than 32 hours in a row off per 12 month period you have to begin drawing on your FMLA, which requires a sheaf of paperwork, signed off by your manager, HR and your family physician, etc...) so that likely as not we just suck it up and deal. We're more apt to just take a vacation day, which is ok because we have a pretty generous vacation allotment, and so I guess that's what they're there for. Some of the folks in other departments who have to submit vacation requests 30 days in advance (owing to working for a more tightly controlling manager) are kinda screwed on that, tho.

This draconian time off policy has apparently really sucked for those hourly workers who maybe pregnant, down with the flu, highly affected by seasonal allergies or who have small children, etcetera. Salaried people get flextime, so whatever. People have already started gaming the system, so we'll see how long they actually enforce it.

YES YES YES!!! Maybe once a month. I'm fortunate enough to work at a company that offers a fair amount of vacation time, and have a boss that probably needs more mental health days than I do.

Oh, I take them as needed. Being self employed I'm lucky that I can chose my own hours. I work til 8.30pm at least 3 nights a weeks, so try to convince early people to come in after 12 so I have mornings off. This is not always successful.
I think everyone needs more downtime than seems to be allocated.

In theory, I suppose I'm not against them. Personally, I never take them for myself. I don't work that much as it is. Even when I was working full-time I never took them. I would always feel more miserable and guilty for calling in. Going to work is easier.

I don't believe in mental health days for kids either. Some parents I know let their kids stay home for birthdays or other reasons. My kids go to school every day unless they are physically ill. Of course if they did suffer a stressful event, or if I felt they needed a day home to decompress, I would allow them to stay home. That hasn't happened yet.

I believe in them, but generally these days "mental health day" just means working at home instead of the office.

I totally support the idea, but I don't seem to act on it. Too guilty, I guess. I really should. However, I really think I should try to fight it. My work ethic is pretty great, and I rarely get sick, and my vacation time, especially this year, is inadequate. I pledge to take at least one this coming summer.

Yes, I believe in taking mental health days and do so myself. I don't think I'll regret it when I'm on my deathbed.

Oh yes, I think they're vital. When my kids were younger I used to announce one out of the blue every so often: they didn't go to school, I didn't go to work and we'd go do something totally fun and unexpected, like the zoo or a picnic or a road trip to the Smithsonian. Or sometimes I'd have a mental health day for just one child and me - that was a nice way of bonding one on one. But that was when I worked at a place that was really relaxed about time off - god, I miss that job sometimes. Since then, I haven't really worked anywhere that I was able to do that and it has kind of sucked.

Now, of course, every day is a mental health day. This doesn't, surprise surprise, seem to be making me all that mentally healthy.

I'm lucky in that my life is set up in such a way that most days are mental health days. I live a mentally healthy lifestyle, I guess. Hey, that's pretty neat! Not sure you could call me a picture of mental health, though. Hard to be sane in a crazy society, eh?

Jinx!

Once in a blue moon I'll take one.

I call them "personal snow days" and when I'm in classes, I allot myself one per class. That really helps to clarify my feelings some mornings: do I really want to take today off? Enough to cash in my one snow day? Or would I rather hoist myself up, make the commute, and keep that snow day glowing in my pocket for later?

The option helps me at least as much as the free time. Most semesters, I end up not even cashing them in, but just knowing that I have given myself permission to skip a day gives me a real feeling of freedom and helps relax me.

I very much believe in them, and I used to take them fairly often (2-3 times a year) when I worked in offices, because for the most part, my work could wait an extra day.

Now, though, as a therapist, the equation becomes "Is my mental health more important than my clients'?", and so the bar is set much higher (and the answer is almost always "No, not with the clients I have today"). Plus I've found that even when I go on a planned vacation, the next week my clients all seem to forget that we have an appointment, so missing one week or even one day becomes an exercise in frustration for me for the entire week afterward.

So I just have to try to make sure that I take time for myself on a regular basis, sandwiched in around clients. Which is probably good for me, anyway.

I do stay home when I'm physically ill more often than I did when I worked in offices, though, because I feel a much stronger ethical duty not to get my clients sick. So it probably balances out.

I have like 6 months of sick days built up. So maybe twice a year I will take a 'fuck it' day, and call in sick. I am pretty much responsible for managing my own work load and making sure that many many balls stay in the air, so I do not do it that often, but I believe that they are appropriate and beneficial, once in awhile.

I totally believe in them and took them reasonably often when I didn't work at home. Now, because my work is such that I need to show a certain amount of output per week, I can wrangle days off by being uber-efficient.

In all honesty, I would estimate that I actually *work* about 28 hours a week. But I get 40 hours of work-equivalent done (I'm actually in the top 10% of contractors in my company for work output), and because I don't have to do "face-time" I have lots of down time to myself, or for me and the kid.

Yes. I usually took two or three a year when I worked.

We don't have separate sick and vacation policies where I work, and the overall time-off allocation is pretty reasonable. So it isn't a big deal for people to take occasional days when they need them, no guilt or deception involved.

Also we have a superb and active internal chat system, which supports a culture of working at home when you need to. If you need a day in PJs but can still work, that's fine. A good side effect: people who are feeling iffy but can still work are very conscientious about not coming in to infect people.

yep, once in a while. usually on a friday when the weather is nice. we have a pretty loose vacation policy at my company.

sperose: Most definitely. I can't ever really take them though, since my parents think that it's a weakness and if I'm at home when they expect me not to be--I get bitched at for being a slacker.

sperose, I do not know you at all. So the following comment might strike you as a little inappropriate BUT:

you really, really need to tell your parents to fuck off.

You are a grown woman, old enough to draw a paycheck, drive a car, vote, etc. etc. It's none of their fucking business if you need a day to relax.

As for me, I do very much believe in mental health days.

But it's only recently that I started getting actual sick days, so I haven't been able to exercise that option except at great financial cost.

I need to acquire the habit of taking mental health days.

Fuck yeah. As often as I can.

I've heard of them, but I've never really been in a position to take them before. Maybe that's why my mental isn't very healthy. I gather I can take them at my new job, but the idea of putting off one day's work onto the next (or splitting it up between the surrounding days) seems kinda exhausting. I could really use one though, I'm not yet any good at tracking my boss' mood, or maybe she's just been being kind while I was new and is now beginning to show her true colors. This week has been miserable; I feel like interviewing elsewhere. Full-on up, or full-on down, no in-between. Gets old quick.

Yeah I'll take 'em. I will only take them when it's not going to have a giant impact, though, so not when something crazy is going on, or when we're short a person, etc. When it's quiet-ish, I really enjoy a day of hooky.

Now that I've leveled up to executive assistant status, I really can't take too many of these and yet, I did towards the beginning of the year when I was that "iffy" kind of sick. On weeks like this week, when I could really use one to be able to get my head back in work mode, I can't take one.

Luckily, my therapist and I are working on what's making me want to take more mental health days, so hopefully that will help me a bit.

Absolutely. It keeps me from killing children. (I'm a teacher, for those who don't know.) What's nice is, with a phone call, I get someone who goes to work for me. Everyone should have this.

I get pretty generous paid sick days (two weeks?) as well as my six weeks vacation but I don't use a lot of "mental health" days - except that my partner has some pretty severe mental health issues and I sometimes have to call in for DCL (dependant care leave) in order to supervise him and ensure he doesn't hurt himself. Heh, when I am stressed or physically ill myself I actually prefer to go to work (busy customer service) because there is usually too much turmoil here at home. Can I get mental health days from my home life?