This year's World Mental Health Day highlights the unequal access to mental health services across the globe.
We know that in the UK, the need for mental health support is more significant than ever and that there is a substantial lack of funding for these services to be given to everyone that needs them via the NHS.
Just this alone leads to inequality. There is a notable gap between those who can afford to seek support privately and those who can not. The World Federation For Mental Health also states that race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and those in countries with a lack of respect for human rights suffer the most from this inequality.
While this sounds like a bigger problem for us to tackle, there are little everyday things we can do that could significantly impact someone's day. And the best thing is that they cost nothing or very little. These are some of ours here at TreatBox HQ...
Lead by example
While it is everyone's choice on what they share about their personal lives, just giving an insight could help someone else take a courageous step. For example, if you are in a leadership role, showing vulnerability will show your team that you offer a safe space to be authentic and may encourage someone to talk about what is troubling them.
Everyone suffers from poor mental health at some point in their lives. So by making it evident that you are a workplace that does not stigmatise those that do can make a massive difference to your team in their time of need.
Make time to talk.
How often do you informally catch up with your colleagues? Water cooler moments can be that trigger for someone to open up. Or why not go for a lunchtime walk with that teammate that doesn't seem "themselves".
Flexible working
Having flexible working hours means that if one of the team was accessing mental health services and wanted to do so privately, they could do so without this unspoken guilt of taking time off or letting anyone know. We want all our team to work on themselves without the trade-off of feeling they are letting anyone down, so while we would never judge anyone, we understand that some people want to work on themselves in private.
Let them eat cake (or chocolate or biscuits).
For our avid followers, you know that Team TB has one hell of a sweet tooth! And while the buzz may be short-lived from that sugar high, it can also be the sweetener for that persons day to get them on a better track.
TreatBox is always on the look out for amazing staff to enhance our growing team of fantastic individuals. Want to know what roles we have available? Simply get in touch via this link https://treatboxuk.com/pages/contact
Download your free print below 🖤
We have made the above picture into a print that you can download for your personal use only, you are welcome to print it or you could always download it and set it as a screensaver, for your daily reminder! Download your free printable here