news: World Mental Health Day: Saturday 10th October
Tuesday 6th October 2020
This Saturday is World Mental Health day, and the theme this year is ‘mental health for all’.
In choosing this year’s theme, the World Mental Health Federation recognised that
“The world is experiencing the unprecedented impact of the current global health emergency due to Covid-19 that has also impacted on the mental health of millions of people.”
At ITP, we have always strived to support the mental health and wellbeing of our employees. We have seen recent success in our participation in the Thrive At Work programme, and our Birmingham office was recently accredited with the Workplace Wellbeing Bronze Award.
However, we also recognise that the Covid19 pandemic, and its associated movement restrictions, is creating significant mental health issues for many people – including our clients and colleagues. We have been working from home for around seven months now and, positive people though many of us are, this has undoubtedly impacted on our collective and individual mental health. As we enter the winter months, and the days draw shorter and darker, we are mindful of the potential for some to feel isolated or confined whilst working permanently from home.
Alongside the expert support available to our staff through our company’s health insurance arrangements, ITP has established a working group to develop ideas and initiatives to help keep our spirits up. Supporting our staff with remaining active, eating healthily, maintaining a good work-life balance, and feeling connected to friends and colleagues during this period is at the centre of the group's aims.
Some of the initial ideas we have been implementing are listed below:
- Company-wide WhatsApp group for runners and to encourage new runners
- Virtual pub quizzes
- Virtual water cooler/coffee breaks
- Online yoga classes
- Learn a language at lunchtime
Please feel free to adapt any of these ideas in your organisation, and we’d love to learn what other companies and clients are doing to support their staff at the current time.
For further information on mental health and support we recommend the following websites: