Promoting wellbeing for Mental Health Awareness Week

Our staff enjoyed a series of activities promoting wellbeing in locations across the globe

The Mental Health Foundation’s designated week to raise awareness of mental health and reduce stigma was 13-19 May 2019. With a theme this year on body image – how we think and feel about our bodies – we organised several events for FCDO Services staff. We designed these to ignite the conversation about how we can be kinder to ourselves and each other.

A safe space

On Tuesday, our most senior Mental Health First aider and instructor held a positive safe space session at Hanslope Park. This safe space allowed people to share thoughts and feelings on the body image theme. The discussion touched on many topics, from the stigma around weight, to social media influences on body image and the impact on the next generation.

Wellbeing Walk

Thursday saw an extremely successful wellbeing walk. Our Chief Operating Officer and Wellbeing Champion Claire Shepherd, led more than 60 colleagues from across Hanslope Park for a walk around our rural site. Importantly, the route was specifically designed to go through green areas and past places that could help with physical wellbeing and support good mental health.

We were lucky enough to enjoy the trees, lavender garden and duck pond in wonderful sunshine. We visited facilities onsite including the wellbeing hut, tennis courts and gym, provided to help staff unwind. The final stop was in the Lecture Theatre, where Claire took staff through relaxation and breathing exercises.

Global Network

These two examples offer just a snapshot on the events that happened around the globe. Alongside these, our staff in London joined in with coffee mornings and confidence workshops, whilst internationally we continue to hold events such as our Lunch and Learn sessions. These ongoing activities recognise that wellbeing is bigger than having good mental health.

In 2018 we were awarded Silver in the Mind workplace wellbeing index. Our constant commitment sees the development of a new wellbeing strategy and continued support for national events.