Safe trusting environment key to employee mental health

Inspiration can take many forms; a favourite track, a pithy truism, a beautiful sunrise or sunset, the smile of a loved one. Stories have the power to compel, to inspire. Open, honest redemptive narratives perhaps inspire more than any other kind of story, especially if the chief protagonists are humble and humorous. Listening to Johnny…

Bipolar, to have or to be?

BipolarUK, the national charity which supports touched by manic depression as it was once commonly called, recently launched the I am/I have campaign.   Tuesday, 3 October, is Bipolar Awareness Day.   The stigma surrounding mental health is gradually lessening. However, there is a still long way to go. BipolarUK estimates that more than one million people…

Touched by suicide? You are not alone

Mental health is still far too often seen as a taboo subject. Suicide is, it could be argued, the biggest taboo under the wider umbrella of mental health. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men and women in the UK under the age of 35. Papyrus, an organisation dedicated to suicide prevention among young people,…

Save the Millbrook Unit at Macclesfield Hospital: psychiatric units are necessary

I have a huge amount to be thankful for in life. I have a beautiful baby daughter, a wonderful fiancée, a loving family, some great supportive friends, a job and a roof over my head.  And my health.  However, life has not always been so good… Great progress has been made in the bid to lessen the stigma surrounding…

Receive free confidential mental health support with Self Help

Feeling alone, depressed and shorn of hope can be debilitating and destabilising. Accessing appropriate mental health support can be challenging.  The purpose of this post is to signpost readers to support that Self Help, @WeAreSelfHelp on Twitter, can provide for people suffering from mild to moderate depression through face-to-face talking therapy to the safe places…

The limits of surface acting: a little bit of empathy goes a long way

Surface acting is a term applied to individuals who, for employment purposes, exhibit emotions that are not truly felt (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993). Think of anyone who performs a customer fronting or facing role and you get the idea. There can be a big disparity between how an employee presents to the customer and how…

CIPD Manchester branch event: ‘Lived perspectives on mental health and wellbeing’

One in four people suffer from mental health problems at any one time in the UK.  There is a growing recognition of the stigma that is attached to mental health issues through campaigns like #timetochange and the Talking Heads charity, which has received prominent media coverage thanks to the support of Princes William, Harry and…

Being neither up nor down: reflections on job searching limbo

Oxford dictionaries.com defines the word ‘limbo’ as ‘an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition’.  According to this definition ‘limbo’ has neither a negative or positive connotation. Another definition from the same source, Oxford dictionaries.com, equates limbo with ‘a state of neglect or oblivion’.  It might seem appropriate to…

Green shoots need nurturing

Job searching can prove troublesome, especially for career changers. Getting noticed can be tough. Even when there is something that seems to fit securing an interview can be tricky, especially when recruiters canvass according to a strict criteria of ‘must have’ essentials where role specific experience, rather than looking at aspiring candidates’ potential, takes precedence.…

Authenticity carries greatest weight

Why do you want this job? My pre-planned, pre-rehearsed answer was suddenly nowhere to be heard. Worn out by lack of sleep brought about by the arrival of my wonderful baby daughter my mind went blank. My mouth was dry, palms sweaty and, worst of all, my mind had gone blank. Instead of the confident…