Mental Health Awareness Week: Recognising the importance of staff wellbeing

OSB Group is highlighting the importance of staff mental health and wellbeing this Mental Health Awareness Week.

Related topics:  Finance News
Rozi Jones
12th May 2022
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"Mental Health was already an important and emerging issue, however the pandemic has made it front and centre across businesses"

The Group’s purpose is “to help our customers, colleagues and communities prosper”, which is at the core of many activities the Group are providing during the 2022 Awareness Week running 9th – 15th May.

During the awareness week, a key focus is around loneliness and isolation, with the Group encouraging colleagues at OSB Group are invited to take part in a range of activities including;

· Mindfulness practices,

· Online chat forums that are work-talk free zones,

· Online Wellness hub containing a range of support, guidance and benefits,

· Training and guidance for staff and managers for work and personal life,

· Promoting the support and guidance available from CALM,

· Westfield health plan - offering a 24hour advice line, face-to-face counselling and CBT,

· Live sessions for staff to find out more about the benefits the Group provides around health and wellbeing,

· Promoting their new Mental Health First Aiders, who are on hand to provide a friendly listening ear and to signpost staff to the right support.

Recently, 11 OSB Group volunteers became Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA). The course provides a learning framework to help the MHFA’s to listen without judgement and signpost people to support via both professional and charitable organisations as well as covering the importance of support networks to a person’s mental health journey, understanding the careful involvement of family and friends in a support network can be hugely beneficial to someone’s road to recovery.

Richard Barrett, head of people development at OSB Group, is the driving force behind the support provided to OSB staff and states: “I believe the MHFA England training is an important contributor in creating a safe environment, both from a mental and physical health perspective. By providing our volunteers the tools to support colleagues, themselves and others; we are facilitating access to timely support when it’s needed most. For me, helping just one person receive the right professional support makes the whole initiative worthwhile.”

Jason Elphick, general counsel and company secretary at OSB Group, added: “Mental Health was already an important and emerging issue, however the pandemic has made it front and centre across businesses and it’s getting more attention and more focus than ever before across all areas of the company. We recently had a guest speaker talk to several teams, including the executive committee. He promoted a really powerful message that it’s okay to talk about mental health and that we should start to talk about it and treat it in the same way as physical health. This has helped bring awareness to colleagues and open a dialogue where we can more free discuss that nobody is ever 100% ‘perfect’, we are all at various stages of managing our mental health. The pandemic has not just magnified mental wellbeing, but it also exacerbated mental health issues in people who may not have previously experienced anything like it before.”

You can find out more about how to get involved and how to create a positive environment for employees and their mental health & wellbeing on the Mental Health Foundation website: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week.

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