Place mental wellbeing at the forefront of your mind as you step back into the workplace

black woman looking out over balcony, wellbeing, relaxIn the years to come, we will look back and see COVID and the lockdowns as the “reset button nobody dared press!”

Without realising it, most of us had got sucked into a “normal life” that was too fast, too loud and too stressful. Nowhere does this apply more than at work, as witnessed by the rather horrifying stat that last year, according to Deloitte’s Shift Index Survey, 80% of people are disengaged their work. As we go back after lockdown, this has to change.

Mark Newey is a leading psychotherapist and founder of mental wellness education site, www.headucate.me. Here he explains why re-programming our minds to understand how to look after our mental health is essential to coping with the inevitable uncertainty that is to come.

Over the last year, we’ve been forced to slow down and think through what is important to us. In isolation, we’ve realised how important being with people, including colleagues, is to our mental wellbeing. We’ve realised that taking time out for our physical health is important too. We have become more aware of the need to jealously guard our work/life balance.

But after a year away, there are three essential platforms for a healthy return to work:

  • It is essential to live life more consciously, getting the balance right and putting self-care right up the priority list; that means retaining the positive lessons we’ve learned from lockdown. In turn, that means being more self-aware and learning how to keep ourselves not only mentally well, but actively choosing to live a life that makes us happy. These are basic skills that most of don’t have, as we’ve never been taught how and as a result don’t pay enough attention to!
  • Secondly, we need to accept that life is not simply going to go back to normal. We need to understand that being anxious in uncertain situations, like the next few months, is entirely normal, but also that human beings are taskmasters at adapting. We need to accept the anxiety, not fight it. Anxiety is not a mental illness: it’s the system doing what it should, keeping us alert.
  • Lastly, we need to be aware that people who you thought we knew will have changed over the last 12 months. We’ve all had very different experiences over the pandemic and the lockdowns. Companies need to immediately create working environments and cultures that focus on compassion and support. It is absolutely essential to spotlight mental wellbeing; staff need to be able to share their struggles without judgement, knowing that they will be supported whilst they find their feet. Bosses should take the lead and be open about their own struggles over lockdown.

These three platforms are automatic outcomes of mental wellness education, something that none of us have received, leading us to take our mental wellness for granted. Mental wellness education teaches us how our mind works, how we create our reality on a moment by moment basis, who we are and what we want out of life. This self-discovery allows us to handle the hand grenades that life throws at us, to actively minimise stress, anxiety and depression and ultimately to thrive.

With the imminent return to work, never has there been a time when it is more important to have gained this basic skillset. The great news is that within weeks your colleagues could be well down the road. Headucate.me is a comprehensive online mental wellness education programme delivered on your mobile for easy access during your day and includes seventy videos, exercises and meditations spread across five modules. For more information, please visit www.headucate.me/business

Mark NeweyAbout the author

Mark Newey is on a mission to eliminate stress, anxiety, and depression in a generation; he’s a self-avowed revolutionary in treating these mental health conditions. After guiding himself through recovery from a breakdown and training in the neurosciences, Mark set up his own psychotherapy practice and over the last 20 years has helped thousands of people beat stress, anxiety and depression. He is now making his life-changing teaching available to reach a much wider audience via a revolutionary online programme, www.Headucate.me.

 


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