Mental Health Awareness Week

The 13th – 19th May 2024 is Mental Health Awareness week. As you all know, good mental health and wellbeing is paramount in the workplace. Taking care of your peoples’ mental health and wellbeing can be the difference between having a motivated, engaged workforce and having a business with a lot of problems. That’s because when your people struggle with mental health issues, it affects every aspect of their life. And often work is the first thing to decline.

It’s not always easy to see when an employee needs help though. You can’t rely on them to approach you when they have a problem, even if you take a pro-active stance to good mental health and wellbeing.

For that reason, it’s a really good idea to open up lines of conversation about mental health at work. And there’s no better excuse than during Mental Health Awareness Week.

Mental Health & Loneliness

This year, the week is taking a focus on loneliness. And after the last couple of years, it’s a subject relevant to so many of us. Periods of isolation, working from home, and significantly reduced socialisation have had an impact on most people in one way or another, and it’s reduced our ability to connect with others.

In time for next week, think about how you can encourage conversation around all types of mental health issues, including loneliness, and find out how your people might like to be supported.

You could offer advice on how to address the issues that come up in conversation, or even look at ways your teams can come together to help anyone who may be feeling excessively lonely. This might include offering up information for support, but also things like social activities or team building exercises.

Mental Health foundation are offering resources that will help you tackle mental health. You can find out more on their website.

Mental Health First Aider

Our HR experts Jenna, John, Sharon, and Vicky recently completed their Mental Health First Aider training so we can offer even more support. It’s our aim for the rest of the team to complete this very soon.

A MHFA is someone who is trained to support employees when they are struggling with their mental health. They have been trained to listen to staff and identify early signs of mental health conditions. You can find out more about a mental health first aider in the workplace here.