We’re really pleased to have taken up Time to Change Wales’ call for employers to make an organisational pledge on challenging the stigma of mental health.
To demonstrate our commitment, we’ve used support from the Time to Change Wales team to develop an action plan to ensure mental health remains at the forefront in the workplace and is an area in which staff feel supported.
Beaufort made this organisational pledge at a staff meeting where we were delighted to welcome guest speakers Ceri Williams of Time to Change Wales and Stuart Lewis, a Time to Change Wales Champion. Ceri gave some eye-opening context on the challenges with mental health stigma and discrimination; and Stuart gave a powerful talk about his own experiences.
Fiona McAllister, Managing Director at Beaufort said, “This last year or so has been challenging in a variety of ways. We want to make sure that our staff feel supported with their mental health through practical actions. So, among other things, we’re building mental health and wellbeing into our appraisal system, continuing to review current HR policies to ensure our workplace is supportive of people experiencing mental health problems, and encouraging staff to talk about the topic on a regular basis. We really appreciate the support we’ve had from the staff at Time to Change Wales”.
We became aware of the initiative when carrying out research for Time to Change Wales on communications creative development. Now more than ever we realise the importance of encouraging and supporting good mental health in the workplace given the challenges of the past year and the coronavirus pandemic. 