World Mental Health Day 2024
On Thursday 10 October, it is World Mental Health Day (WMHD) – and this year’s theme is “it is time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”.
There’s an honest irony then, to the fact that we almost de-prioritised this post – because it felt like “one too many things” this week…
The truth is, there will always be “one too many things” on our to-do lists – so choosing what we do prioritise takes conscious assessment, choice and effort.
And we wholeheartedly, passionately believe that choosing to prioritise mental health in our workplaces is worth it – every single time. Of course we can throw at you the data and ROI figures to prove the impact of mental health initiatives – but in many ways this cheapens the point.
We are all humans – and we all deserve to be treated as such. Prioritising mental health in our workplaces is also prioritising safe, inclusive, healthy, high performing workplaces.
And right now, these environments feel more important than ever.
We have held a privileged position since we launched POINT3 in 2018. At first it felt like “wellbeing” was an important new wave for employers to catch and ride, until in 2020 mental health became an urgent business priority. In 2021 “wellbeing washing” became a widely-used term, perhaps adding a cautionary overtone to evolving mental health and wellbeing strategies.
And so we find ourselves here today, on 10 October 2024 – with the mental health community once again calling a rally: “It is time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”.
Prioritising mental health in the workplace might look like having resources, a wellbeing team, Mental Health First Aiders, upskilling your people managers and having a programme of wellbeing initiatives.
It might also look like turning to a colleague today and asking them, truly asking them – “How are you?” – and taking the time to listen.
In amongst the gazillions of things it takes to run a business – it’s easy to see, and comes with no judgment, that mental health initiatives can be deprioritised. But this WMHD we ask you to consider the price of not prioritising mental health in your workplace – of not adding mental health to the board meeting agenda, of not normalising conversations around mental health amongst your teams, of not equipping your people with skills, support and signposts when they might really need them.
In the end, of course, we’re really glad we re-prioritised this post. Often it’s the things that feel easier to de-prioritise that are, in fact, the most important of all to raise to the top of our to-do lists…
“Meet up” with likeminded professionals
If you want to meet with other like-minded souls – to discuss mental health and how it fits in (or doesn’t) to your business priorities right now, our next HR and People Professionals meet-up takes place next Wednesday 16 October at 09.30am BST (for 90 mins).
Over the years, we’ve heard that our HR and People Professional clients are keen to ease the sometimes-loneliness of the role, and are curious to learn from each other – so this is an opportunity to meet other professionals; to share challenges/successes/questions – but mostly to connect with other like-minded souls.
In this session, we will also be shining a spotlight on inclusive leadership.
If you’re interested in joining – please register to join us here and/or feel free to share with others in your organisation or network who you think might be interested.
The session will be 90 minutes and includes:
– A spotlight on Inclusive Leadership – what it is and why we need to focus on it to drive healthy + high performing organisations.
– A forum for HR & People Professionals to meet with others from our community and cross-share their current experiences, questions and/or challenges.
