We were delighted to see how organisations supported Time to Talk Day this year. The coronavirus pandemic means that we may not be able to organise the events and activities that we usually would to encourage people to talk about mental health. But one thing remains the same: we know that the more conversations we have, the more myths we can bust and barriers we can break down, and the closer we will come to ending mental health stigma and discrimination. Read how RCS started conversations about mental health in the workplace.
RCS as part of Time to Talk day joined together to explore how stigma and judgment can impact on individuals mental health particularly in the workplace. During a session for 30 staff members the team engaged in some activities that got us thinking about how we sometimes jump to quick judgements without always taking in all the information around us, this was to highlight how sometimes people judge others by the way they interact, communicate, their ability or actions they take and these judgements can mean we don’t always take in to consideration what else is going on in somebody else’s life and how that make be impacting on them.
The team explored how if we try and look at situations and others in a different way and try and evoke a conversation, even just asking how somebody is, ‘how their day has been’, ‘how are they feeling’ we can then learn more about what may be going on and how we can support them. The session then explored ways we can have a conversation about mental health with friends, family, colleagues and others and some top tips for starting and engaging in those conversations, we then completed the session with some relaxation and breathing activities to help us take a few moments to reflect on our day.
