World Mental Health Day
Written by Ian Parkes, ELBA CEO
Today I was pleased to speak at a conference to mark World Mental health Day looking at Mental Health and Wellbeing at Work. My input was concerned with how smaller organisations can create effective wellbeing programmes without the need for big budgets. Here at ELBA we have WELBA – our wellbeing committee driven by the staff themselves. Respected by everyone, WELBA has a great programme of activities and thoughts that have helped us all through the last turbulent two years, including the COVID lockdown. Other ELBA colleagues have written today about how they value the activities that have been arranged. Resilience comes from within, both for individuals and organisations, and it makes sense for a small organisation to look within to build strong mental health.
There were powerful and moving presentations at the conference from people who have overcome difficulties with mental health in the workplace and from employers setting out how they have created a more positive wellbeing culture. What struck me in all the inputs was the importance of simple things like talking, taking time to listen, not leaving colleagues isolated, and creating an environment where people feel comfortable to disclose problems if they want to. Mental health issues can be complex and overwhelming, but work and a good job with good colleagues can bring purpose and fulfilment to a person’s life and it doesn’t need to cost much to create a workplace where that can happen.
On this day, ELBA wishes to celebrate the fantastic work of our many community and business partners in this area, who champion positive mental health through their programmes.
We also wanted to take this opportunity to share a great article written by our very own Caz: read about the meaning of positive mental health, and tips on how to maintain it.
And Head of Programmes at BIG Alliance, Jonathan, also recently wrote about why he supports a mental health charity, in his ELBA Staff Spotlight piece.
More on what we’ve been doing around Mental Health this year:
Continuing the conversations about mental health at Islington’s schools
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