This week at Rise, we’ve been discussing mental health and loneliness.
Here at Rise, and I’m sure across the UK, there have been lots of discussions this week surrounding mental health and highlighting the importance of having a supportive environment at work.
Rise has a company meeting every morning on Teams, because we have flexible working it’s a great opportunity to get everyone together. We’re lucky enough to have this platform where individuals can take meetings and share stories on whatever they like.
This week we’ve had some open and honest meetings about mental health, highlighting the support available to us. Including personal stories from staff and coping mechanisms that have worked for them.
Alongside Teams meetings, we also have a Rise Technical WhatsApp chat which gives us the chance to celebrate success with each other.
Our company owner Jeff left the company a video message on WhatsApp outlining the support available alongside reassurance that we are all working together to achieve our goals. In a sales based job where performance matters, having a culture like this is pretty unique.
The focus of Mental Health Awareness Week this year is loneliness. Loneliness can often be overlooked, partly because it's not always being physically alone, but feeling alone. In this post-pandemic era of remote working, whilst this can be seen as highly desirable for a lot of people, the endless screentime and lack of human contact make loneliness and isolation the largest reported concern amongst remote workers according to Forbes.
Hybrid roles are often seen as the solution, a balance between work & home life, reducing commuter time, but still allowing time for collaborating and building relationships with your colleagues.
It is, however, important to keep checking in and learning what is right and what works for you.
There are resources for information and support on your mental health here- https://www.mind.org.uk/
And no matter what you're going through, Samaritans are free to call on 116 123 any day, anytime.
Alice and Hannah x
