The Every Mind Matters campaign launched on 7th October by Public Health England (PHE) in partnership with NHS has been backed by a cross-sector coalition of businesses such as Nationwide Building Society, Santander, TSB, Asda, Slimming World, Three and Screwfix in order to help support their employees’ mental health.
The campaign is designed to help people manage and maintain their own mental health by offering advice and steps you can take that helps you to manage stress, anxiety, low mood, or struggling to get to sleep. It also offers a quiz, which once completed gives you a free plan to feel more in control and deal with your stress and anxiety.
Every Mind Matters was launched a few days before World Mental Health Day (10th October).
The coalition will “signpost the tool to employees” and run mental health events throughout the month of October, and promote Every Mind Matters to partners and customers, collectively, this is expected to reach over 500,000 employees and partners.
Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton all joined the campaign and offered a voice over to the campaign’s advert and explaining mental health issues.
Liz Ashford, HR director at TSB, said
It was a very easy decision for TSB to partner with Public Health England and its Every Mind Matters campaign. The desire to deliver a step change in how we all think about our mental health, taking positive steps to help ourselves and to help each other, aligns perfectly to TSB’s approach to mental wellbeing.
Jenny Caven, director of external affairs at Slimming World, said:
We’re delighted to be a partner in the campaign and hope that it will have a real impact on helping to raise awareness of the balance between physical and mental health and that it will help everyone of us to treat ourselves and each other with more care, empathy and compassion.
Faye Whitmarsh, head of culture & inclusion at Nationwide Building Society, said:
It’s clear that mental health is a growing societal issue. In fact, many of us are likely to experience a mental health problem over the course of our lifetime.
We are proud partners of Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters campaign because it encourages people to take steps to look after their mental health as well as support others.
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, said:
Our health is affected by our circumstances, including having a job, friends and a roof over our heads. Anxiety, stress, low mood and trouble sleeping can affect everyone. Every Mind Matters aims to help people to better handle life’s ups and downs.
New data has been released to make clear the importance of such a campaign:
- More than eight out of ten (83 per cent) of us have experienced signs of poor mental health including anxiety, stress, low mood or trouble sleeping in the last 12 months.
- Nearly half (47 per cent) of people with signs of poor mental health waited at least six months before taking steps to manage their mental health, with just under three quarters (74 per cent) of those who waited this long wishing they had done so sooner. Nearly eight in ten (77 per cent) stated they did not initially know what actions to take to manage their mental health. Of those who did take action, under a third (31 per cent) only did so when it was having an impact on their daily life
- Over half (57 per cent) of people who experienced mental health concerns turned to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, drinking alcohol, unhealthy eating or taking recreational drugs, while just over half (53 per cent) avoided social situations or contact from friends and family.
Interested in wellbeing in the workplace We recommend the Workplace Wellbeing and Stress Forum 2019.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
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