World Mental Health Day - how are you doing?

In a vibrant city, we all encounter a multitude of differences in how individuals think, dress, work, worship, love, and play. This diversity creates an immense collaborative space: endless opportunities for combining ideas, resources, and talents in new ways. So I was genuinely excited at the beginning of this month as we started to welcome more colleagues back safely to our offices at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the City of London.

An opportunity to re-connect face-to-face with colleagues whom in many cases I had only seen remotely since March. To catch-up on our experiences, to share our challenges and new ideas, to laugh, to smile, to get creative and to collaborate on building back better a new fully flexible, hybrid working environment.

As human beings, we are programmed for community. While primates and other animals form groups, no other species demonstrates the sort of intentional, intimate collaboration that is central to human life. 

I was of course hugely disappointed then when our well-laid plans for a gradual return to the office were rightly put on hold in response to Government guidance. To control the spread of the virus and to protect our physical health, we will not now be back at Beaufort House in any numbers until 2021.

Maslow ranked the need for belonging just above the need for sustenance and safety, and innumerable studies have confirmed the link between social connection and well-being. A 2015 study: Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review, found that loneliness is as dangerous to one’s health as obesity, inactivity, smoking, excessive drinking, or heart disease.

As the nights draw in and winter arrives, I am like many people conscious of the impact further isolation will have on our mental well-being. Witnessing first-hand the joy on people’s faces as they got to interact socially and not just virtually in our office was uplifting, proving we are social animals.

So now more than ever, we need to look after ourselves and each other, especially our mental health. At FSCS we have a team of trained Mental Health First Aiders and are a recognised Mindful Employer. We know that creating a safe and supportive space for colleagues to talk openly and honestly about how they’re feeling makes all the difference. We also know that sharing our own stories opens the window to dialogue, whether that be Time to Talk Day, the weekly message from our CEO Caroline Rainbird, People Briefings or Team Huddles. It’s OK not to be OK.

This week make the time to check in with yourself and ask yourself: how am I doing? Then ask a colleague, a friend, your partner, your family the same question: how are you doing? Listen to understand, because remember we are programmed for community. We’re all so much better when we can connect and collaborate – even if we must continue to do that virtually for longer.