Mental Health Awareness Week round-up

From board games and book swaps, to bake sales and a tasty lunch and learn! We truly covered a lot of ground for Mental Health Awareness week! Thank you to everyone across the Group that took part in last week’s activities to support and raise awareness of mental health, and help get us talking more.

Here are a few stats for the week (because we are accountants after all)!

• 78 staff attended the lunch and learn sessions.
• In total we had 13 bakers across the group who cooked up a storm, so a special thank you to everyone involved.
• As a group, we have raised £275.00+ gift aid for the charity Mind, (across both our Just Giving page and cash pots across all sites), so far. LB Group has kindly agreed to match our donations to double the money raised! You can still donate online using the link https://www.justgiving.com/page/lb-group-1696425043972c?newPage=true

Mind work across England and Wales to help provide valuable resources to see that no one has to face a mental health problem alone. Our fundraising went to support both the national campaign and links to regional branches, Suffolk Mind, and North East Essex Mind, Colchester.

We have used some of Mind’s resources and these are/will be available in the mental health and book swap area of each office. If you missed our lunch and learn sessions, we have attached the slide-deck here: Lunch and Learn PP.

Here are 9 quotes from our people, taken last week:

“I am so happy to see how our firm is embracing this vital topic – the quality and breadth of activities during the week was amazing.  Heartfelt thanks!”  Darren Redmayne – Group CEO

“The activities that have been organised this week by the mental health team have been great.  The lunch and learn specifically was a good opportunity to take some time to reflect on mental health and learn about the factors that can affect mental health.  The charity bake sale was a personal favourite – we have some very talented bakers in Ipswich!” Christian Parker – Senior Accountant

“Thanks to the MH team for their efforts.  I liked how we had organised activities each day, whether it was the larger group activities or the smaller 5-minute tasks you could do at your desk. The communication was spot on with each member of the MH team getting involved. Your efforts have helped raised awareness across the office so thanks again.” Daniel Farrow – Associate Director

“Thank you to you and the mental health team for taking the time to organise all of these mental health activities/tasks.” Nathan Young – RE Group

“The weeks activities were a nice thing to look forward to and helped bring some excitement every morning, with an insightful session on the Wednesdays with a lot of helpful resources (including but not just the lunch spread provided).” Ash Thompson – Trainee Accountant

“I took part in most of the activities this week. I found the lunch and learn was very informative and I liked the stress bucket activity. I really enjoyed the meditation too! It gave me a positive start to the day. Overall, I think the activities have been very positive in raising awareness of mental health across the group, and I think it is important to take part or even just listen, no matter where you sit on that spectrum of mental health ?.” Drew Moody – Group HR administrator

“It’s been brilliant to see the importance of mental health really come to the fore over the course of the week – a big thank you and well done to everyone involved, not only to our mental health champions but also to everyone who attended the activities.” Rob Harden – Group CFO

“Thanks guys for your work on this, this week. Very serious issue and much appreciated ?.”  Andy Green – RE Group

The uptake on the activities during the week has been fantastic. It shows that staff are open to talking more about mental health and are keen to learn new skills that could help them their mental health in future.  It has also helped raise awareness that every individual that we interact with has mental health, be it that they are currently healthy, coping or that that person needs some support and a reminder to be kind and give a colleague a smile ? .  Thanks to all those on the mental health committee, this has been our first week that we have run, and it has needed some thought and organisation.  And of course, thank you for all those that have supported us – this is very much appreciated!  Julie Weighill – Accounts Manager and Joint Mental Health Committee Chair

Need someone to talk to?

Our committee is here to support you, whenever you need it. Our dedicated committee of mental health first aid trained champions are available across all LB Group sites. To find your champion please drop Julie Weighill or Anna Godbold a message, and we can ensure someone is there for you. Or visit our previous introductory post with all the details and next steps should you need them here.

Thanks you all again for a fantastic week of events.

How did we do?

We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions on how you think the events went across the week so we can improve on future events like this. Please find the link and complete our survey here.

Your Mental Health Committee