WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: WHAT TO CONSIDER

World Mental Health Day takes place tomorrow (October 10th ), so it’s a great opportunity to look at how workplaces and their leadership teams can tackle wellbeing in the studio. Here I’ve highlighted some great articles that have caught my eye in the run-up to the awareness day…

First up, if you’d like to know what World Mental Health Day is all about, it’s an initiative from the World Health Organization. This year’s theme is ‘Mental Health At Work’, and the WHO has some key information about the impact of mental health issues on individuals, work and society, plus advice on training managers to support mental health, guidelines and more. It’s all here - https://shorturl.at/fdG75

Thanks to campaigns and initiatives around the world, mental health is no longer a taboo topic. But, for men in the workplace, it is still an issue to open up, as an article from Practice Business suggests. It reveals: ‘In a survey of 1,000 men, 77% reported experiencing mental health symptoms, yet only 40% of them had sought help or spoken to someone about it. Alarmingly, nearly 30% cited concerns about stigma and embarrassment as the reason for not seeking help. The survey also revealed that working-aged men are the most at risk of developing harmful mental health symptoms.’ You can find out more, and learn how to understand the signs and address them here - https://shorturl.at/P1UKt

For advice on how you can personally tackle stress at work, Stylist has eight top tips from wellbeing experts. They range from ‘book a meeting with yourself’, through ‘make a ‘not doing’ list’, to ‘go for a walk in nature’. The article points out: ‘There is such a thing as healthy stress in small doses, but the problems arise when there’s too much stress that builds up, often to the point of burn-on, then burnout. It’s essential, then, that we manage work-related stress before it overwhelms us.’?Discover more here - https://shorturl.at/nMoq5

Entrepreneur, meanwhile, looks at ‘Rethinking Employee Wellness Initiatives’ in a piece written by Stephanie Hind, Founder of London-based wellbeing platform Heka. She looks at where corporate wellbeing programmes are failing and how leaders can address this; discusses emerging employee wellbeing trends; and offers advice on how to tackle stress in the workplace. Read her insights here - https://shorturl.at/qfB9k

Finally, his character in Succession, Logan Roy, may not have entertained the idea of ‘wellbeing’, but actor Brian Cox has been involved in a campaign to encourage office workers to take a desk break. ArtsHub - which reveals that its most read article in 24 years has the headline ‘Why creative people are more prone to depression’ – highlights research by ASICS that ‘office workers who take a 15-minute break during work hours have 22.5% better mental health, and lower their stress levels by 14.7%’. It goes on to showcase the ‘Public Service Announcement’ by Brian Cox: ‘As Cox says, “F**ck the fruit … just move, for your mind!” The PSA encourages workers to reject wellness ‘perks’ like fruit bowls, plants and water fountains, and rather get up from their desk and actively disconnect for 15 minutes.’Read more about the campaign – and enjoy watching Cox’s Public Service – here -https://shorturl.at/HXRMI

What do you do to tackle stress and avoid burnout in the studio? And what’s the most pointless ‘wellbeing’ initiative you’ve seen in the workplace? I’d love to hear from you!

Photo by?Photo Genius?on? Unsplash