Wrapping up Mental Health Week 2018!

With #MentalHealthWeek2018 being so widely received this week, we wanted to post something from Kate+Co about what we’ve been doing to increase awareness.

We’ve highlighted a couple of articles that have been written by one of team about OCD and PTSD (follow the hyperlinks!) which have helped highlight gaps in knowledge.

The most important ones?

• OCD isn’t something people choose to be
• PTSD doesn’t just affect those who’ve been in the military
• There’s a lack of understanding around a lot of mental health conditions

There have been open discussions around depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety and more generally, how we can improve or notice our own and other people’s mental health.

Our main points?

• Mental health needs to be seen as ‘normal’ – education for everyone is needed and we need to know what to look for and the warning signs that are out there:
• Are symptoms work related?
• Is sickness physical or mental?
• Has performance dropped unexpectedly?
• Is a colleague acting out of character or had a noticeable change in attitude?
• Listening and being there to listen is absolutely key
• Professional help is out there and our friends, families and colleagues can likely help in more ways than we can ever know
• Ignorance is not bliss, more understanding and empathy is vital
• Judgement is the key reason why people don’t talk
• Awareness in the work place still has a long way to go, be it talking to your Manager or colleagues

The majority of us see our colleagues more than our friends and family. Let’s focus on what we can control, namely workloads, office relationships, and the environment in the workplace and our own personal involvement.

Let us know what you think and we can take another step towards this conversation being more than a once a year event.