Mental wellness challenges abound.
As a recent McKinsey webinar noted: “The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy that affects not only the global economy but also the global psyche.” The loss, isolation, economic hardship, and traumatic stress caused by the coronavirus have had a significant impact on mental health and well-being.
Wellbeing challenges can not only reduce productivity and worsen the employee experience, they can also affect your organization’s culture. But regardless of the effect it has on an organization, the problem is this: when someone else is in danger, it’s important to help them.
There are many tools and strategies that companies can use to address mental wellness. While no single effort can do it all alone, one of the most important steps you can take is training and training. mental wellness champions.
Dr Heather Bolton is a BABCP-accredited clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) therapist. She is Head of Psychology at Don’t worry, the trusted workplace mental health platform. Before joining Unmind, Heather worked for the UK’s NHS for nearly 10 years, primarily focusing on improving access to therapy for people with depression and anxiety disorders.
Sometimes known as mental health or wellness champions, these are the employees who are positive role models and helpful resources for people who want to know more or need help.
Related: 5 Ways to Support Employee Mental Health
They are also visible signs that your organization is serious about mental wellness. Here are three examples of how mental health champions are changing the way workplaces around the world approach mental wellness.
1. Be there for others
Scott Sutherland He works at the John Lewis Partnership, a British company that owns grocery and department stores. It is the largest employee-owned business in the UK, with a workforce of over 80,000 members. Sutherland is one of the company’s mental wellness champions. That means he gets calls from his co-workers who might be in danger. He supports his peers by sharing information and directing them to an expert when that kind of help is needed. But one of the most important things a mental wellness advocate can do is simply listen.
Often people simply need a non-judgmental, understanding ear: Sutherland is there for them. Sutherland also has a vlog in which he talks about mental health and wellness (and also features his dog, Floss).
2. Point the way to more help
Sometimes a colleague has challenges that a champion isn’t ready to tackle. Mental health advocates are not trained professionals. That means many problems will be too complex for them to solve. It’s fine.
That is why it is important that they know how to signal, pointing the way to professional help or other resources. Sometimes people benefit from working with a therapist, but they can also read about it, do mindfulness practice, or join a discussion group. Mental wellness champions can show employees where to go and share their own experiences seeking help.
A champion can help destigmatize the act of asking for help, a goal that may require a cultural shift in some organizations.
3. Spread sunlight throughout the organization
A mental wellness champion can do more than just drive individual change. They can contribute to change in an organization’s culture by creating a sense of community, an even more important task in an era of dispersed workforces.
Sherena Masharani, process manager at Centrica, a UK gas and electricity company, sends in a diary “sunny moment” email with fun facts, recipes, trivia and celebrations, as well as mental health information and resources. Masharani’s “moments” are so popular that even his CEO signed up for them! More recently, it has branched out to deliver its messages through an in-house podcast.
With these light-hearted efforts, champions of mental wellness are promoting a culture that demonstrates that their organizations take mental wellness seriously. These efforts can bear fruit. What A study of mental wellness champions concluded, “The combination of training, support tools, and developmental events helped de-stigmatize mental health and change the corporate culture of some organizations.”
Mental wellness advocates can drive change
Mental wellness champions can drive positive change on an individual and cultural level and in companies large and small. By supporting employees who need information or help, pointing the way to professional resources, and driving cultural change, they can improve the mental well-being of their colleagues.
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