Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week!
The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) runs “Mental Health Awareness Week” every year in the UK. The week aims to raise awareness of mental health disorders that individuals can face and to spread a message with regards to how to maintain a positive mental condition. The MHF focuses on disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, alcohol and drug use and wants to have a positive impact on emotional, psychological and social well-being.
This year’s theme was stress which is a big issue in the everyday life of many people. This bodily reaction from a life event or a situation causes anxiety and is most of the time related to high-pressure lifestyle, work, money, health or other personal concerns such as family.
Mental Health in statistics
Statistically, 84% of people in the UK regularly faced stress for approx. 12 days a month across 2018. Female and male reactions to stress are different: 42% of women feel stressed compared to 36% of men. Work and money are the biggest factors causing stress. In 2017, 74% of people felt so stressed that they have become overwhelmed or unable to cope.
The BTN’s engagement
This week, the Business Transformation Network hosted an event with Colin Minto (Co-founder at APeopleBusiness and ex Group Head of Resourcing at G4S) & Sarah Crowe (D&I, Vice President at Northern Trust), focusing on the topic of Access and Engagement with a particular focus on finding the best talent, retaining them and ensuring they are diverse & inclusive.
Colin has previously spoken out about his battle with his own mental health and living with OCD and Sarah has previously worked for Stonewall, the UK’s leading LGBT charity, and brings first-hand experience into her now in-house role. Some key topics from the evening were around companies that have done well-being effectively and how to use D&I as a competitive advantage.
The BTN will be releasing a video of the event in the near future, to be first to know about the release, sign up at www.thebtn.tv/join
Sources:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
https://www.mentalhealth-uk.org/
http://www.who.int/
https://www.forthwithlife.co.uk/blog/great-britain-and-stress/
