Mental Health Awareness Week at ELBA

Written by Smera Nadeem, Head of Programmes, Challenge

“Mental Health Awareness Week – Helped bring unity and a sense of connection amongst all ELBA members, we were able to explore our personal mental health experiences and how to navigate through them but also connect with others and provide a positive support system as a team. The activities were greatly useful and helped depict this.”

– Samie John, ELBA staff

Mental health is for everyone and at ELBA, with WELBA, the wellbeing committee, we actively encourage staff to move away from their screens and take part in something different; whether that be focusing on themselves or fellow colleagues, playing games indoors or outdoors, taking a walk, sitting in the sun or playing sport, learning about something new or having a social or topical discussion, the aim is to nurture a culture of connection, understanding, openness and awareness.

This year, WELBA adopted the Mental Health Foundation’s theme of ‘Movement: Moving more for our Mental Health’ and a wide range of activities were organised for MHAW (13th – 19th May), to engage staff throughout the week. This included daily walks including a walk along the canal and the local city farm, a Chinese language taster lesson, Qigong, outdoor games, a creative activity and open conversations. The feedback from colleagues was very positive. Words used to describe the week included: ‘fun’ ‘good’, ‘different,’ ‘comforting,’ ‘interactive’, ‘pleasant,’ ‘mind refreshing’ and ‘zen’.

“An opportunity to connect and have the space to pause and look after our mental health.”

“Think about mental health and wellbeing in our day to day lives and think openly about mental health… in light of this year’s theme on movement, getting colleagues to move in whatever way that means to them.”

– Feedback received from colleagues during Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2024.

Overall, the week was fun, engaging and a great success, as seen in the pictures and feedback received. It is important to note that mental health is not limited to MHAW and we cannot underestimate the impact that workplace culture and work itself has on our wellbeing; 1 in 6 people experience mental health problems in the workplace, with 79% of employees being affected by work stress. Specifically in the UK, around 828,000 employees suffer from work related stress, depression or anxiety every year and 38% who have no diagnosed mental health condition experience demotivation, burn-out, anxiety etc.^[1]

The statistics show that mental health and staff wellbeing should be a priority for all workplaces and MHAW is an opportune time to re-engage, tackle the stigma and create an open space. As with all things, this requires time, effort and dedication to create a workplace culture of comfort and openness and WELBA is consistent in organising activities throughout the year, diversifying what is offered and asking for feedback and suggestions for colleagues. This ensures staff have a say, activities are tailored and suited to the needs and interests of all with a focused effort on mental health in the workplace.

^[1] https://www.spill.chat/mental-health-statistics/workplace-mental-health-statistics#section-2

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