Welcome to the Arvato CRM Solutions UK newsletter

Employees from across all of our sites took part in ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’, in association with the Mental Health Foundation, at the end of May.

We think that now more than ever it’s important to break the stigma around mental health and ensure that our people know where to get the right help and support for themselves and loved ones if they need it.

To kick-start the week, we shared our new Health & Wellbeing Policy. This outlines our responsibilities as a business and the support available to help our employees, with our intention being to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to stigma, prejudice and discrimination, by educating all of our employees and managers about mental health.

Some of the free external support channels our employees have access to include advice and resources about financial matters from Fidelity, the Aviva Bereavement Helpline, a Mindset Coaching Toolkit and the Employee Assistance Programme, which provides telephone counselling, legal or financial advice, or health advice across a wide range of medical and wellbeing issues 24/7, 365 days a year.

As well as the policy, we also opened up nominations to find a team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) across our business who will act as a point of contact to signpost colleagues to external support and resources when necessary. We already have a small group of qualified MHFA, however, we are increasing this number to help promote positive mental health across our partnerships.

We asked Leighann Ingle, one of our existing MHFA from Chesterfield, why she wanted to sign-up and here’s what she had to say, “The reason I wanted to do the course was that my job role deals with service users and it was becoming more apparent that I did not have the sufficient tools to help or identify someone with poor mental health. Also, as a line manager, I wanted to be comfortable in supporting my team as much as I can.

“The course has helped me identify areas that I had never come across or may have moved away from because it felt uncomfortable to me at the time. I now feel I have the tools to help and support those that need it – and have built on my existing knowledge to be able to sign-post others to the relevant organisations/support groups.”

We also asked our colleagues to tell us what they have been doing during lockdown to maintain their physical and mental health, and share their own tips and suggestions with other people. We received numerous posts and pictures of people drawing, gardening, exercising, baking and crafting, some of which were rediscovered hobbies and talents. You can see some of their photos in the image next to this article.