Episode 11: Looking after our people

We mark Mental Health Awareness Week by opening up an honest conversation about what mental health support really looks like inside a fast-paced, client-driven business.

Joined by our Mental Health First Aiders, we explore why this week matters, what it means in practice, and how we can all play a part in looking after ourselves and each other at work.

This episode goes beyond awareness. It’s about action, understanding, and making it easier for people to speak up, check in, and reach out when they need to.

Whether you’re feeling great, feeling stretched, or somewhere in between - this conversation is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

One in four people suffer with poor mental health every single year. That's one of us in this room right now.

SPEAKER_05 0:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Which is crazy, isn't it? Just being that person to listen is like so much more valuable and most of the time they just want to get it off their chest.

SPEAKER_04 0:15

Nobody needs to know who you're speaking to, nobody needs to know anything about your personal business as long as you're getting the help that you need. I can open up to you. And that's good because you feel them like a bull in a china shop.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

We reward our employees, help them feel supported here at wise. Everyone can't believe it.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

I know they're going, what? You get £50 towards a gym membership. I'm like, I know. So good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Like genuinely makes you happy. Yeah, how you worded that didn't bring you to happiness. I wouldn't even I don't know, I I wouldn't think that's as easy as it is.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Even if it's just like, I'm gonna watch my favourite comfort film or I'm gonna eat an Easter egg. Oh but it's late.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Late is on time.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

My line's opening at mine, so I was late today, to be fair.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

Hi.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

How are you doing? Good.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

You? Yeah, good. Yeah? Ready to start? Ready to start. So in honour of Mental Health Awareness Week, we've got our lovely mental health first aiders to talk about all things mental health. Um and that wise, it's more than just a date, it's something we want to support all year round. Um, we've got some great perks. So I think let's start by introducing ourselves, well, yourselves, um, and then we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Cool. Do you want to start? I can start. Thank you. So my name's Chloe, and I am a senior account manager here at WISE. I have been here for about three and a half years now, and um I am a very newly qualified mental health first aider. Very exciting. Very exciting! Just the other day. Just the other day, four days ago. Wow. I know, so it's fresh in my head. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

My name is Machek. Um, I'm a mental health aider as well. Um, I've been with WISE for the past seven months now, I think. Exactly seven months today. It's 22nd, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yeah. Um, yeah, excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Thank you. I'm Grace. Um, I am the HR and office admin at WISE, and I've been here a year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Has got past. Yeah, it's been quick. So me and Mache uh did the um mental health first aid course together um about a month ago now.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So it's a month already.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Something like that.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Yeah, it was a little while. So you've all got some good knowledge for this part. Yeah, well you say that.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

So, first question what made you want to become a first mental health first aider?

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah, so I think like with my role within HR, people in culture, I felt like it was kind of important for people to feel like they can like come to come to me. Yeah. Um, and I think people naturally do anyways, um, in terms of like in like for like a professional standpoint. But I think also it was like really important that I also just had that training if people do come to me in like a crisis, or even if it's just to have a chat, yeah, um, just to know how to handle those conversations a little bit better. So I feel like yeah, for me it kind of goes hand in hand with my role, but also I am like a people person, like I care massively about people, hence why I'm in the role that I'm in. Yeah. So I was also just massively interested in like supporting people with mental health. Um, and I did my degree in psychology, so I was like, I kind of had a bit of knowledge about it, but I was like, I want to know how to handle those conversations. Yeah. Um, and the training was really beneficial. Like I learned way more I felt like I kind of had a good base knowledge, I suppose, of like, oh, these are mental health conditions and what they are. But the actual like first aid course taught me like how to how to handle those conversations and how to like handle someone that might be in like a crisis and that kind of thing. So yeah, a side that I hadn't really thought about basically. Was it a one-day course? It was two days.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

I got so quite intense.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yeah, it was it was quite intense, but I'm glad I did it.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

That's good. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_04 4:41

Would you two say the same reasons or um yeah, so obviously I'm not in HR and I didn't study psychology. But but um I think personally I have friends, family, a lot of people that I know have suffered with maybe some poor or ill mental health. Um, and I always find that I am usually the glue that holds a lot of people together, especially in my own family.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Like.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Yeah, so um I always feel like I am probably the person that people will go to um if they need to speak to somebody or if they uh want a little bit of advice. Actually, one of my best friends, very, very recently, has been going through a bit of a crisis, and um I was speaking to her yesterday, so this has come out of like a really um strange time. But I used a lot of the things that I learned from the course on Thursday and Friday to help to speak to her and also some of the resources that I was given, um, which I hopefully will be really beneficial to her. But yeah, I think I love helping people and I love being able to look after people, but I think also the big biggest thing that I learned about on the course was and you don't always have to have the answers, you don't have to give everybody the answers. You can sometimes just let find and help them navigate that way to get the answer themselves, and I think that's a really like important thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Direct them in the good direction.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

Yeah, exactly. And so it's sorry, carry on. Sometimes it's just about lending an ear as well. Like Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

I think that goes maybe just that you feel like you need to go into the conversation offering something, yeah. Actually, like just being that person to listen is like so much more valuable, and most of the time they just want to get it off their chest, like you are literally just someone to talk to, yeah, and then to help signpost, but but yeah, you're kind of just like a designated listener, yeah. Um, and I feel like that makes so much more of a difference as well. Like the people like you can see it, like people getting stuff off their chest, and they like the relief, yeah, absolutely, yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

What about you, Magic?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah, no, um, I feel similar to to what you were talking about earlier, like you're the glue to the people around you, to your friends. Like, I always tell my friends, my closest friends, that they can come to me with anything that's happening in their life, that I won't judge them. Um, and and you know, it's just about lending that, as you said. That's that's what's important to me, you know, being helpful. I mean customer service, so you know, I'm also keen on helping people, you know. Sometimes even uh customers, they just call and they just want to talk, and you can tell that it's not always the case that they've got some problem um, you know, with their work or whatever, but it might be something in their life and they they just want to take it out, um, put put it out there.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

Yeah, do you know we were at um a um what they call it? Like what's it called? The CV show, like an exhibition. Yeah. Yeah. So we were at an exhibition yesterday on a stack, and obviously, like there's people there for business, etc. But then there's people there sharing things about their life. Yeah. And sometimes and I said to you afterwards, I was a bit like, I just think that person might have been a bit lonely. Like they just told me so much about his dad and what his dad does for a living and what he does. And and it was just it wasn't really relevant to our business or anything to do with logistics, but I just I got that sense that he was somebody that just needed to talk. And um yeah, I gave him a Fredo and probably made his dad. He seemed really happy. Well, I hope so, I hope so, because you don't want to just dismiss people that are maybe a little bit more vulnerable or find themselves in that position.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

But also, like you probably gave him the space to do that because you probably were coming in like calm, listening, like you weren't, yeah, like you said, dismissing him. So like that was really probably beneficial, like he said, it's probably made his day.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

He probably gave off that vibe that he was like, okay, I can open up to you.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Well, that's good because usually I'm like a bull in a china shop.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Uh okay, moving on. So mental health is talked about more than ever. Um, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to talk about. Um, why do you think, especially at work, not necessarily at wise, but just in the work, like in the workplace, people struggle to get things off their chest. Is there a stigma around it? Um, yeah, what do you guys think?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

There definitely is a stigma, and you know, people are still afraid to talk about it because it might affect their work in a way. Um, so so they might not be as open to talk about it. You know, when you've got that mental health side uh, you've got a bit of that um reassurance that you you can actually speak to someone and that you could you've got that safe space. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I think there is like a stereotype that something will change. Um, and obviously it's like different speaking to a mental health fair stator or like me in my role as like HR, but like it would never change anything, like that is not the way that we work. No, um, and yeah, I think I don't know anything else to say.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

I think it's the point was going on in the following on from Grace's part. Um I think sometimes there is a um very much people don't understand. People don't understand the difference between mental health and mental ill health. So um mental health is your state of mind at that time. So everybody has mental health, like everybody sat here with some sort of mental health, but a mental ill health could be if you've been diagnosed with a condition such as I don't know, depression, bipolar. And um, interestingly, I was told a little bit of a story on my course the other day, and um it was a basically a test that happened whereby somebody was on a bus and sat next to somebody and said, Um, I have bipolar. And that person moved away from the person that said they have bipolar because and then when they were spoken to about it afterwards, they were like, Why did you move? Because I don't know how that person's gonna react, or I don't know what they're gonna do, but they're not going through an episode or a sort sort of a manic episode, so there was no need to. And then one that person who moved away had a more of an understanding of bipolar and how the condition works. Um, they understood a little bit more that they weren't in any sort of immediate danger, and this person isn't a dangerous person, they just have a mental health condition that they were open about, and I think that again comes down to the stigma of it and the taboo. We all watch films, and yeah, you see things on the TV, and words are used so casually um in everyday life that actually are probably quite harmful to people that do suffer with certain conditions. So I think the world is slowly getting better and with people talking more and more, but there is all and always will be um a stigma. I think you can't we can't change the world, unfortunately. It'd be nice if we could, but again, it's just again a case of the misunderstanding.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, we can change from within.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

We can, exactly, but not everybody is as open to change, are they? Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

And I think we can make like our best efforts where we can like control, I suppose. So like at wise, like not to toot our own horn, but like I'd like to think we've created a culture that supports people, like genuinely people care about each other and supports each other, um, and people feel comfortable enough to open up to not everyone, but they're like their close people or mental health first aider or people in culture or their manager or whoever it is, but like also running things like mental health awareness week where we are like just aware that people have things that go on and that's okay. And like talking about it in the workplace, I guess, like kind of helps to spread awareness and like reduce I think the stigma of like those words being thrown around.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

But and it's the little things that we're doing, like that recognise like the wellness packs, like it's something small, but like that chocolate that we've put in it might actually reflect or hopefully might actually reflect and just think you know, I need a break at the minute. Um the eye patches, like then little things that are like tongue in cheek, but they actually mean something deeper.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

The eye patches.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Oh, this is actually not going out, is it till basically for ambassadors we're doing a wellness pack for employees, but I just realized this will go out in mental health awareness week, so they would have already had their packages. Um but that's a great segue into what support looks like at WISE. Um I think it's a good section for you to kind of go off movie for the part that we have. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

So um yeah, I think we um we try and put a strong kind of focus on creating like a people-first culture, I'd say wise. Like we kind of reward our employees um and try to help them feel supported and that they can do like their best work here at WISE. So we have a few things we have um private medical insurance with vitality. Um so that's a really big one. Um and vitality are they're kind of known for being like proactive in their nature rather than like reactive healthcare. So they focus on like you know, the things where you can like do it, do as many steps as you can if you get money off your Apple Watch or you get free coffees, or I do that. Yeah, I love the free coffee. Um things like that that actually those like incentives will be encouraging people to live a healthier lifestyle, which is like massively important for mental health as well. And within Vitality, they offer like a 12-month subscription to Headspace, which is like a mindfulness meditation. Oh, that's really good.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Um, so that's good. And then they also have like talking therapies cover that you can get through them. We've got gym membership contribution where we're good one. We offer £50 a month to employees if they sign up to a gym, um, or classes to be fair, and that's obviously really important for people's well-being. So kind of like helping to subsidize that.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Um sorry to interject on that. Whenever I talk about that perk here, everyone can't believe it. I know. They're going, what you get £50 towards a gym membership. I'm like, I know, so good.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah, it's really nice, isn't it? Like, yeah, and these things are expensive like nowadays, like with the cost of living, so it just like helps out a little bit. Absolutely, yeah. Um, and I think just trying to show our employees that like we we genuinely want people to yeah, you're not just saying things for the little bit, yeah. Yeah, we want people to like live healthy lifestyles, take that break from work, like that kind of thing. We also have like a um employee assistance programme, so like most businesses will have one of these, but um ours is help at hand, so it's like a 24-7 GP, um, which is really good. I've had like an appointment on a Sunday night before, which's good. Really good, um, especially when you're like waiting at 8 a.m. to get an appointment, so that's handy. Um, and they offer mental health support sessions as well, um, and that's free, that's for all employees, and also our flexible working hours, like in a kind of not direct like mental health support, yeah. Um, but again, helps to like put shows the emphasis that Y has put on like helping our employees feel like comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

It just keeps a peace of mind when you think, okay, I don't have to worry about work because I've got this thing going on in my life, so I can just like let my manager know that I've got this and kind of a burden, I think.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Like appointments or whatever it is, like, or even you don't you never really like running late, are you? Like, because you're just like I never get stressed that I'm running late because I'm like, oh, I just finished hopping up.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

It was like this morning, Kevin Mesh. I'm gonna be late six minutes after the usual start time.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

She rucks up, and I was like, I thought we were gonna be late. It's late, six minutes is late. Late is on time. My lines are opening at mine, so I have to be there.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

I was late today, to be fair.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Um I thought of another good perk that we have as well. So we actually get the um sorry, Grace, we weren't no, yeah. No, I was just not changed. I'm not a challenge now. Um we have the um guy from now planning, is it now financial planning? Yeah, yeah. So we have a uh financial advisor that comes to the office and we all make appointments with him to get advice on our financials. And I think the last time he came, it really helped me because I was really honest and said, like, do you know what? I don't really know how my pension works. Um and he sat down there and he he went through everything with me. And I was just asking for like, would it be better if I put more money into my pension? Would it be better if I paid off more of my house? And we just sort of went through the best options for me, personal to me. And that's a great perk. Like, um, 10 years ago I wouldn't have cared about anything like that, but like now I'm sort of like I need to get my life together. I need to get that on it. Um I didn't have to pay for that, and it was just all through work, and even the little things like we did the uh Easter bonnet competition, and that's like just really nice, lighthearted thing. Like, and then we come into work and we've got like the fruit that's available. It's gone down so well. Yeah, fruit snacks, fruit, snacks, drinks, um, all like healthy stuff, and it's just it's just a nice environment to come into. I think that's plays a massive role in everybody's uh mental health, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

And not being cheesy, but mental health first, I just think that's a part, knowing you've got someone that's gone through the course that isn't just not using then like their common sense, but you've got you've heard from the horse's mouth in a way. Um to knowing when you're speaking just someone. I love to learn your strange speech and honestly. But yeah, I would say you guys were a perk as well. Yeah. Um Thanksgiving. But with that, where do you feel that you fit in with the perks that wise offer? Do you think like where do you your support, where do you think that fits in with what we do as a whole? Because it compensates each other quite nicely. Yeah. Um do you think just the advice part alongside the actions that we do with the physical perks? That makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Do you mean in terms of like how our role fits into Yeah, the perks that we offer as a company? Yeah, so I think we've now got the basic foundation of uh being able to redirect somebody to when they might need help, especially in a crisis. So um if anybody is feeling like they're in a mental health crisis, they can ring 111 option two, and that will take you straight to a mental health crisis team. If you Google, I am feeling suicidal, sorry, trigger warning, you straight away get the Samaritan's help line at the top of the page. And I think I didn't know that before Friday, and that's something that we can now take away and educate other people as well. I again took away a whole suite of information and resources. Um, we all did um in our little packs that we were creating a resource like crib sheet that will go on the employee hub.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Brilliant. Um so I'm in the process of doing that, populating like all the different helplines, like national and local. Oh, that's good. Um, so that we have something to say. I mean, if you need help with that, there's this helpline, or um, have a look on the employee hub, there's this, like these different resources. Yeah. Yeah, sorry, Claire jumped in that.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

No, no, no, that was really good. Yeah, because I forgot I forgot about that. Um but yeah, again, like being redirected to all these types of resources that are available. Like I think again, it's just be educating people about what is available, what you can use, and uh nothing's too minor, like not nothing's minor, like one in four people suffer with poor mental health every single year. That's one of us in this room right now, yeah. Which is crazy, isn't it? Um so yeah, I I think uh us being educated to be able to point people in the right direction is a massive win for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Yeah. Sometimes people don't realise that they need help. So I think people like your role as a mental health first aid is really important because sometimes someone just comes just is thinking, like, actually, I'm kind of overwhelmed right now. Yeah. Um, not thinking I've got anything going on, and it that might not be the case, but once you kind of start talking to them, they and you know, at the end of the conversation, you know, you you're listening, you take a calm approach, you yeah, listen to them. Afterwards, you might signposting, oh, have you thought about speaking to your GP or have you thought about um this helpline might might be really beneficial, just have a look at the website. You're not gonna do that on your own back, or like you would have to probably be like further down the line of like I'm really, really struggling. So I think it kind of just open if you're if you're in that place where you're just like I'm feeling overwhelmed or or however you might be feeling I think it kind of opens that up to you that you know like done for yourself and having someone else say like oh have you thought of this like is it's like I didn't think of it that way but that's actually like makes a lot of sense that realizing that you need the support. And I think that's what like mental health awareness week does as well. Like I think it all although yeah we're doing little things like um a gift back like yeah that kind of thing by us speaking about it it will help people to like check in with themselves yeah I guess like they're gonna hopefully think like okay like how am I feeling today or am I really stressed at work actually like a stressful check in. And I think that in itself is like enough. You know like that is raising awareness that's how many people check in with themselves and um like see how they're feeling and reflect on that.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Yeah I'm gonna say a personal anecdote now if that's alright. So there was a situation that I went through last year and I travel quite a lot for work as we all know and I was on my way to Belfast and that is not unusual. I'm in Belfast quite a few times a year travelling here there and everywhere I catch a lot of flights Scotland Belfast that's it flying it's not exotic. I mean the point of the story is I was getting on a plane getting on the plane and I have this like feeling of just like anxiety taking over me and like my hammock was racing and I wasn't thinking straight and I actually used uh the Headspace app to just sort of go through like a bit of box breathing some breathe breathing techniques which I know works for me to try and calm me down. So only about a 50 minute flight to get to Belfast from Birmingham and um I was really really struggling and when I got to the hotel I thought I know that that's not normal and I know that I don't usually suffer with that and I'm not quite sure where that's come from and what's triggering that.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

So I used I used vitality and I ended up having some uh talking therapy and it really got to the core of why I was feeling that way and it also brought out a lot of things that I didn't realise where that would have come from. So following on from that point Grace like things that I'd probably buried that were sort of deep rooted from however long ago and then something that had happened quite recently really did trigger what I was going through. And I think when you have that self-awareness and you know that something's not quite right and whether it's in your body or your mind I think being able to actually make that move and but then again knowing the resource that you can use um is really beneficial. So yeah just following on from what you said it just reminded me of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

And having someone that you know say you were in that position and you it was in like the work environment you was like a day to normal day to day in the office even if you just was like oh my change like can I have a bit of a chat I felt like really panicky. Yeah he's gonna then direct you to the various helplines and you you would probably think oh okay like I might do that. Whereas like yeah on your own it takes that self-awareness to be like okay I'm gonna take the next step which I think can be hard for people.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

So yeah absolutely's going on yeah that's not quite right and it's instead of swallowing it and pushing it down um so you know like it's something else I'll lent on Friday.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Do you know when you have like um like a ball like a beach ball and then you put it in the water and you're pushing it down in the water and then if you keep pushing it and when you let go it's gonna go yeah out of the water isn't it and that's essenti essentially what you swallowing all that stress and whatever else is bothering you. You're just sort of keeping it down a little bit but eventually it is going to just rise to the surface. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And I think it's important like and that's what Mental Health Awareness Week and having mental health days hopefully will achieve but like it's okay to have help. Yeah. Like probably like you said one in four people like one of us in this room will have had help. Yeah and that's okay and like just knowing where to reach it and that you can reach it if you need it.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:22

And it's confidential nobody needs to know nobody needs to know what you've done. Obviously I've just shared what I've shared but I'm quite happy and open to do that. But nobody needs to know who you're speaking to nobody needs to know anything about your personal business as long as you're uh getting the help that you need and as long as you're um comfortable with doing so but I think again it's everything's completely like it's not gossip yeah um it's between yourself and whatever sort of therapy suits you the best whether it's meditation talking therapy CBT anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

And like the mental health first aiders like we are trained to literally only break that confidentiality if there's like a risk to yourself or harm to others. So you know even if you were like oh I actually wanted that to be shared with my manager but I don't want to go to them like they can do that for you. Like it's not yeah like it's on your terms whatever you feel like you want to be confidential and a mental health fair stator doesn't have to you know report it to your manager or tell your colleague or anything like that. Like they respect that confidentiality and it's only broken and kind of like needs must.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Yeah and like you just said then Grace mental health awareness week is to be useful and hopefully drive some action if someone's listening now um and wants to do something for themselves something small what would you all sort of recommend is it like a a walk to help with their mental health is it just sitting there in a second well I think in our course we had homework stuff if that feels weird.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

And then he goes this course is really really heavy and it's really important that tonight like after the first day like you do something that genuinely like brings your happiness I think he said like do something that like makes you feel lighter that you've you've maybe you've been putting off because you're like oh can't be bothered like type and work um and yeah he's he was like come come away and tell us tomorrow like what you've what you've done and I remember yours yours was like that that class that you did yeah the kickboxing class kickboxing class I've been like putting off exactly yeah I was I was really taking my time to to go there uh and eventually I did and it made me like feel so much I I relieved so much stress you know by by just going there just having some exercise you know that that makes a a lot of difference and it doesn't even have to be like a full proper uh training class it could be as you said a a walk in the park honestly it makes so much difference um like when it comes to the uh sort of autumn um winter period of of of the year I struggle with like uh really low mood I think quite a lot of people do don't like there's less sun uh less vitamin D I I think that's that's what causes that that lower mood and you know just going for a walk but maybe even a little jock if if you're up for it that that makes a lot of difference.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Yeah I think just doing something that like genuinely makes you happy.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Yeah why you worded that did bring you to happiness I wouldn't even I don't know I would I wouldn't think that's as easy as it is.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Yeah like you just go home and you just make your tea or whatever even if it's just like I'm gonna watch my favourite comfort film or I'm gonna like cook my absolute favourite dinner or like I don't know eat an Easter egg. Oh my chance but yeah but like taking that time for yourself to genuinely do something that really makes you happy and I think it can like massively reduce stress but also like just help you feel a little bit lighter and just take that time for you I guess like self-care.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Yeah yeah don't be too hard on yourself.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yeah yeah find what works for you as well yeah I like that question um what's one thing that we can all do for a colleague I try and always ask people how they are but kind of not just a hey how are you like good thanks but really just be like how I think how thanks with that or if they'd like me to present it to you be like how's that going? Just like really check in with people. Yeah um sometimes you have to ask questions just a couple times and most of the time people don't open up they do.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

I'm similar to it similar to you Grace there's times though sometimes where I ask somebody if they're alright and I think I know if the response is not normal. Yeah with me I didn't want to say you but like um it's happened a couple of times though not just myself. Yeah so if I know if I know this person well enough and an animal that that response is a little bit off to normal I'll push it but then it sometimes I'm what I push it too far and I don't want to upset the person so then I'll I'll leave it and then maybe send them a message on Slack.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

You don't want to put them in that spot in front of people right in the office I don't want to be like what's up with you?

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Go on, tell me what's wrong. I'm not gonna do that. But if I notice it then I will message offline and just say sorry like are you alright? Is there anything you need? And then um it's obviously up to that person if they want to open up or not but I think again but with somebody that you might not know as well I think just listening just listening to tone of voice um maybe they're the way that they're presenting themselves a little bit um if they look maybe look a little bit different or I was gonna say that like if you had a meeting with someone or someone in your team or like distant team and they're like they're not quite right.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

And that might not necessarily just be well they're quiet like it can be a whole range of like different behaviour just dropping them a message after just like oh how's things I hope you're doing okay like it doesn't have to be super formal of like what's going on but just providing that outlet for people to to raise something if they want it to um yeah I've kind of answered my own question.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

But it's not necessarily doing something for someone but just kind of like being weird like you like this is like again a bit cheesy but the way you sing sometimes it goes so bad. No but it makes you laugh and that like makes you in a better mood as well so kind of like just being who you are like kind of reflects onto other people depends who you ask in the office because sometimes they go oh shut up no I do that as well as well I know sometimes if I'm like really just about something I can hear you like singing Lady Gaga I just kind of compact a bit Dan came out of his office and went and went can you stop singing I went what you want about I've not even been singing he went yeah you have and I was like no I haven't and then I was like oh my god I think I was but I don't remember doing it I said that's really bad isn't it I was like was that yeah it was in all seriousness that I'm gonna link this back like you obviously feel comfortable enough to be yourself yeah it's like a massive thing to to hopefully like create a workplace that people feel like they can bring their like full selves to work I think we do that yeah and make people feel comfortable and and yeah like just just be you and it actually makes people happier yeah generally I felt that difference seven months ago when I joined like complete 180 from my other place where I could not be myself because I was called out for it.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

I'm a bit weird sometimes you know no no no like okay yeah that's the that's the nice bit I mean like you um but yeah I was called out for it and and here it's it's so much different yeah than other places I've been to so yeah that's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Do you know what as well we have the radio on so that it's really good for well being but if you don't want me to think don't put the radio on.

SPEAKER_05 34:06

Please do it I know yeah I do like it.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

I don't show up but I do actually really like it. So doesn't it alright I'll show up anyway last question uh an important one how can people start a conversation without feeling awkward is it just a have you got two seconds what would you say?

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Maybe invite them to a lunch you know just for a walk yeah take them outside of the office maybe it's the office space that makes them feel kind of nervous whatever they they're going through maybe maybe if you're going for a walk in a park park that that can you know start the conversation somehow.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

Yeah yeah somewhere that doesn't feel as serious yeah that makes sense I definitely think kind of learned about it on the course didn't we like to try and kind of take their lead I suppose so like if someone comes to me says I happy standing in the office then like that's okay they might they might not mind people kind of overhearing but if they're kind of like you know leaning to I might say like well let's just get some fresh air um have a chat or um out in the corridor or anything like that where it might not feel kind of too obvious but I also think we've got quite a lot of we've got about five health first aiders across the company and I feel like they're all quite spread out. So like hopefully someone feels like they've got a connection with someone that they can they feel like they do they can reach out to genuinely or even on the other hand they don't have a connection with them and that's sometimes easier because it's just someone that's like you know it's not like your manager or your colleague or your best friend.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

It might just be someone that like you've never really spoken to before they don't know anything about you or and yeah so I I hope that you know we've got an enough people trained um and also just the gen like the general um like employees here are caring and we'll listen to like everyone you know yeah they're gonna listen to people's ones they want really good hilarious well do you know we're actually at the end now but I think if it's one thing take away from mental health awareness week it's not a one time thing it's something all year round and hopefully this podcast everything we're doing internally and mental health asiders is a good way to show that all year round yeah um so thank you all for coming to see you again at some point yeah in a quest mum mum mum no honestly thank you all