Mental Health in the workplace: What are we doing?

News Article

Mental Health in the workplace and why it's important:

Mental health affects everyone differently, from how they perceive it, to how they cope with it and what triggers it. So it’s hugely important to us at 43 Clicks North that we have resources robust enough to support the staff to manage their stresses both in and out of the workplace.

Arguably, in every workplace each team member will have their own views on mental health as a whole; so it’s hugely important that part of our role is to ensure our offer to its staff is to be as inclusive to those willing to open up as it is to those less willing too.

Johns Thoughts :

Having previously worked for 5 years in the public sector, more specifically in drug and alcohol services, mental health was a daily conversation both with clients and ourselves as staff. During this time I learned the importance of managing our own well-being. Stepping away, and working as a project manager in a fast-paced digital marketing agency, a new role, a change of environment and a client base is no different and it brings its own challenges.

I was grateful and excited to be asked to be one of the mental health first aiders for 43 Clicks North. This brings an opportunity to add to the existing positive culture of the agency and hopefully create a conversational culture where staff feel they can discuss their issues freely with their peers, line managers or us as mental health first aiders.

Emily’s Thoughts:

After being a member of a local roller derby league for many years and involved in a few roles including team captain and league rep, I’ve been exposed to and helped support members of the team on a variety of personal issues. I’m incredibly lucky to be surrounded by a group of open and supportive teammates and I want to make sure I can continue that approach within my team at work.

I’m really thankful to be considered for this role and for the opportunities we’ve got to enhance the already incredibly supportive mentality in the team. Our aim is to really open up the conversations around mental health and make sure everyone within the agency has a voice.

The Training:

The training was delivered by Paul Longley at Think Mental Health, having known Paul for a few years through his work with Andys Man Club I knew how passionate he is about mental health both in and out of the workplace and the delivery of the training was no different. It was thought-provoking and emotive but also conversational and insightful and allowed us to throw our own experiences and ideas into the mix whilst taking into account Paul’s experiences and examples of working with many other companies and the strategies they have now implemented. It’s safe to say plenty was discussed that can be taken forward for our staff wellbeing at 43 Clicks North.

Our Approach:

After various discussions around our own experiences, and expectations as well as factoring in our current culture at 43CN we decided to use the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ as a blueprint for our plans. The 5 Ways to Well-being consists of; Be Active, Connect, Keep Learning, Take Notice and Give. All are very important to our general well-being and something that can easily be adopted and practised within the workplace on a daily basis and really encompasses everything that a good team culture should look like and how we look out for each other as peers.

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The Future:

Our belief is that if we can prioritize these 5 things within the workplace, then we are giving the agency as a whole a positive framework to build and maintain positive mental health in and out of the workplace as individuals and as a team for years to come.

We will be looking to make some immediate changes that will support the staff and help us to support each other which we can't wait to share with everyone. These may be basic in comparison to some ideas we have, but these will hopefully build some positive habits in the workplace for all of us that will continue and evolve over time. In addition, we will be planning some bigger events, partnerships and changes that will run throughout the calendar year so keep a lookout for some of the events and updates we have coming up.

We’d love to hear from you and your place of work on how you support your staff and each other as peers and the things that you’ve put in place. Sharing’s caring!