10th October is world mental health day
I think this is probably the most important one yet. So we wanted to do something to support you for it. We were struggling with our mental health before the pandemic, and now I would say that pretty much everyone that I am coaching is having some kind of mental health issue. The huge uncertainty and the reduced connection with other people impacts us all.
Everything we do at The Hobbs Consultancy is about creating cultures whereby individuals feel able to show up as themselves. Whilst we’re doing that work, we are left with the symptoms of that gap. What happens when we are not ‘included’, when we are ‘other’?
For me, it's a natural extension of the Inclusion work. When we have to put the armour on to go in the workplace, we damage our sense of ourselves and our own mental health. I want workplaces where people can take their full selves in.
Mental Health has become a core part of the ‘why’ we do the work we do and we have been building our expertise in this area. We have taken on a new coach, Hilary Lees, who was a mental health practitioner within the NHS prior to becoming a coach. She has been a huge source of information for us too. She'll be leading the 'Being with our Emotions in Challenging times' webinar this Monday.
In addition to workshops we run on the topic, we have created a new mental health e-learning module to share everything we have learnt about mental wellbeing. This module is for people who are interested in caring about their own mental health and the mental wellbeing of others in the workplace. It shows the scope of the issue and looks at ways we can take care of our own mental health, the signs that somebody might be struggling, how we broach a conversation about that and how we can each contribute to a mentally healthy workplace.
We are making the module free to the first 50 people over the next 7 days with the coupon code 69UJ473Q. Our hope is that some of you will go on to share this within your organisations. As I stress in the intro, engaging in the module alone won't improve your mental health. You need to take action as a result of being there.
Where we are having success is in group coaching sessions. We bring a small group of people in organisations together to talk about how they are. The act of connection and supporting each other brings huge benefits to everyone's well-being. Our suggestion is to share this module, alongside open sessions, led by a professional coach, which people can join to talk about their well-being.
Next week we’ll formally launch our Masculinity in the Workplace event (in partnership with Token Man) coming up on International Men’s Day (19th Nov).
With love,
Rox