Leading in a pandemic-one year on

This week, we mark the first anniversary of lockdown. We couldn’t have predicted the size, scale and impact of Covid on all our lives. Sometimes, you forget it’s there. But then you look outside to the empty streets and closed shops, remember the people you haven’t seen for a year, and those no longer with us.

As a leader of a mental health charity, this year has created huge challenges both professionally and personally. We know how many people rely on Mind, for our information, our local services, and the work we do to influence government and support civil society. We employ hundreds of people in our shops and nationally. There were some very real risks facing us as the lockdown started. Office-shut. Local Minds-closed. Shops-shut.

Throughout this period, we’ve thought about our role in terms of supporting three groups:

-         What we can do to support the public-everyone’s mental health has been tested like never before.

-         How we can support people at risk of mental health problems-this group has steadily grown over the year- for example many young people, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, frontline workers

-         How to ensure people with mental health problems get the help they need-we know that around two thirds of people with existing mental health problems have reported their mental health deteriorated during lockdown. .

Over the last year, I have been fortunate enough to witness resilience, ingenuity, passion and teamwork on a monumental scale, both within the extraordinary Mind family, and our wider mental health community. Donors have been extraordinarily generous in an hour of need, staff and volunteers have been brave, purposeful and committed.

As leaders we’ve learnt a lot about ourselves. Many people have told us that, ironically, leaders feel less remote as we’ve seen their cats, dogs, and toddlers on Zoom screens. We talk much more about compassionate leadership. We’ve also learnt about contingency planning, quick decision making, making tough decisions, and most of all supporting our staff.

It’s not been easy for anyone. Last month, I lost my father. He was 98, and passed away peacefully at the end of a life well lived. But like hundreds of thousands of others, my family’s ability to properly grieve his loss is on hold. As we mark one year on, we must remember all families who have lost loved ones and share their burden of grief.

So what next? Some things are changing for good. In our new strategy at Mind, we place a focus on supporting those people who are most affected by the direct and indirect consequences of Covid-people from Black and Asian communities, young people, and those affected by poverty. As I have written previously on this blog, our approach towards race and racism is changing.

There can be no doubt that the mental health consequences will be visible for the next few years. Thanks to the extraordinary work of so many people at Mind, we will be here for the future to meet that challenge.

Find out more at mind.org.uk