Mental Health Awareness Week.

This year, 15th – 21st May is Mental Health Awareness Week.

Looking after our teams’ mental wellbeing has always been a priority in BM.

We want to create an environment where all team members feel safe to be themselves without fear of judgement. Our unique culture values authenticity and openness. This is how we believe everyone can flourish.

With that in mind we have put in place a raft of initiatives to support our team members’ mental wellbeing.

Mental Health First Aiders

Alongside our site first aiders we have trained a team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA). They have achieved a Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace . Their availability is advertised to team members at any level. Or team members can be referred by line managers and HR. The MHFA team also meet once a month so they can support each other as well as provide support to #bmFamily💜💚 team members.

We’re a Mental Health Confident Employer

We made the public commitment to sign the Mental Health Charter pledge. The charter provides us with access to mental health support, awareness, and training. And access to systems that support team members’ mental wellbeing including a Mental Health Hub, videos, and podcasts.

Our company-wide approach protects and improves mental health for everyone, whilst supporting those team members who experience distress.

We continually live our value – ‘obsessive about our people’ so that our everyday working culture is as mentally healthy as possible.

We use our e-learning management system to host a dedicated “Mental Health Support” document library where our teams can access useful information on our Care First EAP, download a Coping Calendar, access information on mindfulness, as well as guides to “wellness action plans” aimed at team members and line managers.

We also regularly share our “signposts to support” guide to the many and various sources of external support available to our team members, empowering them to reach out directly to organisations offering support in line with their particular needs.

Regular team member surveys, job chats and weekly team talks take place to build a picture about our teams’ mental health. We use these findings to plan and inform our workplace strategies and policies.

We recognise the impact of our team members’ lived experience of mental health challenges and feel they bring a unique perspective to BM.

We have included mental health in our diversity and inclusion strategies. Discrimination on the grounds of mental health status is as totally unacceptable.

Tackling loneliness

This year, the theme of  Mental Health Awareness Week is tackling loneliness across all parts of society.

Long-term impacts of loneliness, such as mental health disorders, cardiovascular troubles, high blood pressure, and sleep problems, are finally being recognised for their negative consequences.

According to research, one of the most efficient strategies to increase our health and happiness is to form new relationships by connecting with new people, as well as to develop and strengthen those we already have.

At BM we will be encouraging our teams to focus on the importance and power of connecting with others.

We use Yapster, our social engagement tool to communicate with our teams, and to facilitate them communicating with each other.

This week we are running a campaign under the banner #ConnectForHealth, where we encourage team members to connect and get to know new people in our #bmFamily💜💚, as well as talking about the connections in their lives that support their mental health and wellbeing.