Mental health awareness week…

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candour and more unashamed conversation”

– Glenn Close

Next week is Mental health awareness week starting on Monday 15th May – Sunday 21st May. What will this mean and what will it look like? It is about being brave and saying “it is OK to not be OK” – Brené Brown. Removing the stigma and normalising the chat surrounding mental health.

If you break a leg we talk about it, and we hear how it happened and we possibly even sign the plaster. Mental health is not obvious and just because we can’t see it does not mean that we can’t talk about it.

Current statistics show that 1 in 4 of us is struggling with our mental health. Organisations need to understand that is not a personal issue that it is a workplace issue and a lot can be done to create the right environment. If it is OK not to be OK, what skills do your team members need to have open/honest conversations.

Managers have to have the courage to “hold space and not fix” , often all that is required is a damn good listening. We are craving time for someone to genuinely care and just listen and hold the space for us.

In that space you need to convey that you care, and that you don’t feel awkward. Brené Brown used to end every podcast with the phrase “ Stay awkward brave & kind” With listening being the key ingredient, nice big open questions and certainly no judgment. If appropriate share your own stories to demonstrate humility but not to hijack the agenda.

The vulnerability the person demonstrates to share a story must be seen as courageous. Vulnerability really does equal greatness. The courage to honest about how you are feeling is at the very heart of emotional intelligence and makes you authentic and very “real”.

Organisational initiatives can demonstrate care. Creating a Well Being wall or just a holding space wall, a place where people can add nice quotes or just ideas as to manage mental health. A very popular idea is to train mental health first aiders, people who you can reach out to and also people who know how to hold space. Companies have invested also with in-house yoga and masseurs that are available during working hours. The ability to switch off from everything by engaging in a physical mindful activity. Setting up fiction book clubs are also attractive for getting employees to think about something else in a different way.

At a very basic level for your own mental well being, swap negatives for positives eg. if some-one has a bigger house and you feel disheartened – go back home and think how clever you have been in creating a small place into a cosy home.

Always keep an eye on how much holiday you have taken and ensure you spread it out throughout the year. There is nothing more restorative that a well earned break in a totally different place.

Ask each other “Are you OK?” and get the conversation started.

Please do get in touch for one to one coaching or workshops around Mental Health – bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk