Click Travel firmly supports raising mental health awareness and remains committed to exploring how to best support our employees. The Employee Assistance Program has been available to all employees for many years now and we also trained a number of Mental Health First Aiders in departments across the business a few years ago and this year rolled out mental health support training for all line managers.
Expanding the role of Mental Health First Aiders
1 in 4 people experience mental ill health within the UK every year (Mind UK). So we understand that inevitably, a significant portion of Click’s workforce will be affected at some point in their working life. We also recognize that more than 4 in 10 people would not feel comfortable having a conversation with their manager, which means it can sometimes be hard to spot warning signs.
We believe that the introduction of the Mental Health First Aiders has given us a strong foundation upon which to provide support and guidance to our employees when called upon. We’re now using the Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 as a platform to expand the teams’ remit to focus on more proactive and preventative initiatives as well, with more employees joining what we now call the Mental Health & Wellbeing team.
While there are a range of factors that contribute to mental health, stress is the most common driving factor in the workplace. 74% of UK adults have felt so overwhelmed they haven’t been able to cope at some point in the last year (mentalhealth.org.uk) and the team has made it a particular focus for the week.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, Click’s activities include optional training in a Lunch & Learn format for all of the workforce, ranging from managers to employees, on the topics of; causes of mental ill health, indicators of mental ill health and how to help and support colleagues.
NATURE – this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week
While we didn’t limit activities solely to this year’s topic of nature, we have embraced it by encouraging employees to:
- Share their own plant based meal creations
- Take the challenge to ‘get active outdoors’
- Take part in a nature themed photography competition
…all through a new dedicated Slack channel for all employees for the week. Some employees have also been promoting their own fundraising drives, with money raised going to MIND.
It all helps to remove the stigma surrounding talking up about mental ill health.
“Having easy access to a range of support mechanisms ensures that there is always someone on hand to talk to. Even if you personally are not affected, most of us are more than likely to know someone who has been affected by mental health. Therefore, raising awareness of this topic helps towards early intervention”
Jess, Senior HR Advisor at Click Travel and a member of the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team
The post How Click’s supporting Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 appeared first on Click Travel.
