The COVID-19 crisis is impacting each and every workplace; whether that means increased workload or reduced hours, we are all faced with uncertainty and adjustment that challenges our mental health, even if we are physically well.
A poll conducted in early April by YouGov and the Mental Health Foundation found that 24% of adults have experienced loneliness; this has more than doubled during the lockdown period and presents a long-term risk to mental health
It has been an adjustment for Mental Health at Work, but as a virtual organisation, we are fortunate in already having our home working systems in place. We continue to be here for both our existing and new customers across all workplaces and have adapted and evolved our established, facilitated face to face workshops to enable delivery through virtual sessions. These workshops will continue to consider what organisations and their employees need to know about mental health at this time and the skills for managing it in order to improve working lives.
In this blog post, we’ll bring you some helpful hints and tips for managing your own mental health and that of your teams, the role leadership can play at this time and some ideas for blended learning for workplace mental health programmes.
If you’d like to find out more about how Mental Health at Work can develop a customised programme for your organisation, please sign up for our virtual Taster Session, email us at team@mhaw.uk.com or call us on 0203 553 3665.
Managing Mental Health And Wellbeing During Covid-19
We all have mental health and during the COVID-19 crisis, many of us will find that we are moving away from our mental health more regularly and possibly finding it more difficult to move back to health. Working from home, or rather being at home during the crisis and trying to work, alongside homeschooling and concerns about loved ones or our own health, brings new challenges.
Working together with the Mental Health Foundation, we’ve come up with some tips to help you to manage your mental health at home and at work and a signposting guide for further support. We’ve summarised the content in this article, but if you would like a full copy please register here and we’ll be happy to email this onto you.
E-Learning
At Mental Health at Work, we continue to evolve our range of learning platforms to ensure we meet client needs and part of this has been the development of an e-learning programme. We’ve worked with digital learning experts KPMG, to ensure that we bring you a product that complements our facilitated workshops and resides on a robust technology platform.
E-learning can provide an ideal solution to reach a broader employee population, more quickly. Our programme is modular, in small learning bites, so progress can be at a rate that suits each learner and flexible to suit an individual. At this time many home workers are looking for learning opportunities and this can be an ideal way to either start or keep the momentum of your organisation’s workplace mental health programme.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2020
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from May 18th to 24th. In response to the Coronavirus outbreak, the theme has been announced as Kindness. Kindness unlocks our shared humanity and is central for our mental health. It has the potential to bring us together with benefits for everyone, particularly at times of great stress.
This theme is equally valid across society, including the workplace and we’ve pulled together some ideas on how to bring this to life in your organisation.
Virtual Sessions With Mental Health at Work
Date: Wednesday 13th May, 2020 Via Zoom
Time: 10.00-11.00 If you’re an existing customer / 14.00 15.00 If you’re a new customer
Understanding mental health in a changing workplace
In these virtual sessions, we will explore the new working reality during COVID-19 and how this is impacting the mental health of employees, when noticing changes and having conversations around mental health in the workplace is more important than ever. We will also consider how organisations can do this effectively in virtual and socially distanced environments. If you are one of our existing customer’s, we’ll also explore how you can continue to build momentum around your workplace mental health programme.
You will also have the chance to hear insights from experts in workplace mental health and discuss approaches and programmes that they have found to be successful across workplaces.
Top Tip Of The Month
Ask a colleague how they are. Then stop to listen.