Skip to content

Mental Wellbeing

Showing results 11 - 20 of 23

  1. 0

    Top tip No.3 for managing your mental health over the Xmas period…

    Added on 17th December 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Over the next few days in the lead up to Christmas, Ultimate U are giving you a tip a day on how to keep your mental health during this very busy period….

    Tip 3 – Feast

    Perhaps one of the most justified activities at Christmas time is how much food we tell ourselves that we can consume.  Now we are not saints at Ultimate U and indeed we really do enjoy celebrating, it’s the consequences that do our self-esteem damage.  See if you can identify with any of the following…

    Common phrases heard before Christmas:

    “It’s only once a year”

    “If we can’t enjoy ourselves at this time of year when can we?”

    “Well, a bit of padding for winter does no harm”

    “I’ve only had two mince pies so…”

    “I can go on a diet after Christmas”

    “They’ve gone to so much trouble; I couldn’t possibly not have another one…”

    “I deserve a treat”

    And then the New Year arrives and we dust off our guilt again and you might hear the following…

    Common phrases heard after Christmas:

    “Oh, I’ve put on so much weight”

    “I can’t believe it – my trousers feel so tight”

    “I only had a few chocolates…”

    “Why did I eat so much?”

    “Diet starts tomorrow”

    “I’ve overdone it again”

    I can say that all the pre-Christmas statements have been said in the office this week already!  Maybe you deserve a treat, you’ve worked hard all year, maybe you’ve had some major crises to deal with and perhaps Christmas is a little bit of brightness on the horizon – nothing wrong with that.  So, maybe, it’s about spoiling ourselves a little but not too much! 

    As for the after Christmas statements…one thing is clear, the more you beat yourself up the less likely you are to feel in control and therefore take positive action.  So go easy on the guilt trip, relax and get back to normal as soon as you can.

  2. 0

    Top tip No.2 for managing your mental health over the Xmas period…

    Added on 16th December 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Over the next few days in the lead up to Christmas, Ultimate U are giving you a tip a day on how to keep your mental health during this very busy period….

    Tip 2 – Be Active

    “Of course I’m active!” I hear you cry as you dash about from shop to shop before closing time, but I am talking here about not giving up your fitness regime because it’s Christmas time. Focused exercise will help you to be more resistant to stress, will release muscle tension and endorphins into the system to give you that ‘feel good factor’.  It will definitely help with the post-Christmas food guilt if you have exercised regularly. 

    Also, it’s some personal time for you! I would imagine that some of you are frantically focusing on the family and not on your needs – your body deserves to have a treat and I don’t mean of the sweet variety! If the snow comes back, there is nothing better than getting the wellies on and going for a walk in the snow. Walking on snow is akin to walking on sand – it’s harder and will work muscles you didn’t know you had!

     

     

  3. 0

    Manage your mental health over the festive period…

    Added on 15th December 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Over the next few days in the lead up to Christmas, Ultimate U are giving you a tip a day on how to manage your mental health during this very busy period….

    Tip 1 – Consider your options – take control

    It is very easy to get swept along with what you think you should be doing over the Christmas and New Year period and end up trying to do everything and make everything perfect! The result is you are left feeling completely frazzled by the big day. 

    Ultimate U suggest now is the time to consider what you could compromise on.  What could you not do that could alleviate feeling overwhelmed?  Could you delegate tasks to other members of the family/friends? 

    Draw up a list of all the things you think you have to do and then eliminate THREE things: be ruthless! Will sacrificing those items really be such a big deal? 

    Think about your workload for a moment…are you still with me?! Trying to cram in all your work before Christmas – is this necessary?  Again what things could you let go until the New Year?  Do you need to chat through with your line manager about what tasks could be re-scheduled for January. 

    It is likely that you are already putting yourself under pressure with the home/life tasks at the moment – use your support networks, talk through what you have got on and then do 50% less of everything:  effort, work, present buying the lot.

     

  4. 0

    £70 million made available for psychological therapies

    Added on 29th June 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    We ask – will this go far enough?

    Andrew Lansley (Health Secretary) announced that there will be £70 million available for people who experience anxiety and depression to have access to psychological therapies.

    This is, of course, good news but I am inclined to agree with Paul Farmer – Chief Executive of Charity Mind when he says that mental ill health has suffered a long period of neglect in the government’s eyes and therefore this amount of money will not be enough to address the cumulative problems we now have.

    For example, there are people who have been waiting longer than a year to get access to these vital services. Having depression/anxiety for a year is a long time and unfortunately, people are probably more likely to need the services longer to overcome their challenges – meaning less money in the pot for newly diagnosed individuals.

    However, any money dedicated to Mental Ill Health is a positive step forward – the government should be applauded for this and at least mental health is back on the agenda.

    Let’s hope that the money gets to those in need soon.

  5. 3

    Janet Street Porter’s comments on depression – naive, prejudicial & outrageous

    Added on 21st May 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    It is not often that I find myself outraged to the point of anger but Janet Street Porter’s article on depression in the Daily Mail has me incensed. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1278510/Depression-Its-just-new-trendy-illness.html.  In a few hundred words she has attempted to undo many years of tireless campaigning to reduce the stigma and raise awareness of mental ill health.  She likens depression to being the ‘latest accessory’, saying that it is ‘just the new trendy illness’.  What?  Having worked with many people with depression it has never seemed to me to be something people make a conscious choice to get. 

    Just as people are becoming confident to share with others their experience of depression, Porter ridicules their accounts of attempting suicide and the daily battle they face to get well by saying, ‘get a grip’.  And it is exactly that lack of empathy and understanding that my clients have to deal with.  Often, during our mental health awareness sessions, attendees – for the first time - feel safe and liberated enough to share their story and seek help.  They often cite the media’s lack of understanding as perpetuating the stigma they face from family, friends and work colleagues.

    Evidently, she is just a ‘tension seeker’ and has not really researched her subject before commenting.  The stigma around mental ill health has not gone away- indeed it is one of the biggest challenges facing my clients in the workplace and we work together to tackle it.  Depression doesn’t  just affect the ‘middle classes’ as Porter claims. Mental illness, unlike Porter, does not discriminate, anyone – irrespective of background, wealth or status can be affected.

    What’s your view?

  6. 0

    Teachers under strain…

    Added on 5th May 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Our view on the case of Peter Harvey

    A teacher who struck a pupil with a dumbbell has been acquitted of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent the BBC has reported. Peter Harvey, 50, hit the 14-year-old with a 3kg (6.6lb) weight at All Saints’ Roman Catholic School, Mansfield, in July 2009.

    Thankfully, the judge and jury saw sense and acquitted him. Harvey had returned to work after being signed off with Stress and Depression. It was clear that he was still not ready to return to work and/or needed additional support to ease him back into teaching.

    It can be difficult for employers to know what to do to best support employees when they present mental ill health conditions. I believe some simple awareness training of what to expect from Peter and some coaching for his line manager on how to construct a dialogue about his return to work would have been beneficial.

    All too often because there are still a lot of myths surrounding what mental ill health is, managers are reluctant to even talk about it with their teams. This is often because of their own anxieties or prejudice about the subject. Reducing stigma by becoming more aware of how to support employees, knowing how to notice and monitor key signs and symptoms and getting your own prejudices re-examined could really help.

  7. 0

    The importance of supporting staff with Depression…

    Added on 6th April 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Could better Mental Health Awareness and Strategy prevented Police dogs death?

    Our view…

    You may have heard that earlier this year PC Mark Johnson of Nottinghamshire Police received a six month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £2500 costs for the deaths of two police dogs Jay-Jay and Jet who were left in his van without ventilation in 29.3 degree heat last year.

    The sentence for Johnson was not as lengthy as it could have been after it emerged he had been suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.  It was identified that his employers could have done more to support Johnson with his poor mental health.

    This case raises important considerations for employers.  Mental ill health can be easily ‘brushed off’ by managers until something devastating happens as with the Johnson case.  Being reactive to mental ill health can often be a mistake; we believe employers need to set a policy, communicate it and raise awareness to staff of how to apply it.  Managers especially need to have a grasp of how to have meaningful dialogue with staff about mental ill health. 

    But were others factors at play here?  We think so.  Large uniformed institutions such as the Police can be victim to a perpetuation of a ‘macho’ type culture where not showing a vulnerable side is the norm.  The consequences?  People bottle up issues, refuse to acknowledge that they may have a problem and managers get away with not tackling issues and the organisation removes the opportunity for support and positive intervention techniques by managers.

    Now we are not saying that all Police forces do this and we are sure there will be some excellent examples out there of support strategies for staff with mental health issues but we think more employers need to be waking up to the fact that their staff are human and that the old ‘leave your problems at the door’ philosophy of management is exactly what it is – old.

    What is your organisation doing to get teams resilient against mental ill health?

  8. 0

    Fiona Yorke featured in Personnel Today

    Added on 1st April 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Your feature “Terms and Conditions” (Personnel Today, 12 January) highlighted the difficulties in dealing with mental ill health disclosure in general terms. Unfortunately, there is a lack of clarity between different mental health disorders.

    For example, interchanging depression and bipolar disorder is misleading. The feature indicated that bipolar disorder is treated by antidepressants which, in the majority of cases, would be inaccurate. People with depression are usually treated with antidepressants; people with bipolar disorder are initially, more often than not, treated with mood stabilising medication.

    It is also not useful to talk about mental illness as a disability. It can be disabling but it doesn’t have the permanence of other disabilities and to discuss it as such does not provide the solution focus it needs.

    I’d like to see more emphasis placed on the large numbers of people who recover completely from illnesses of the mind – mental illness is not necessarily a life sentence.

    There is a clear role for HR to set the agenda for businesses to create a culture of openness and understanding for staff with mental health problems and to consider the future to encourage potential staff to be fearless in their disclosure, knowing that organisations will have the necessary skills and support mechanisms in place.

    Let’s keep the dialogue going about mental wellbeing in the workplace, but let’s ensure that we apply as much factual rigour to this as we would other HR issues.

    Link to Personnel Today article “Terms and Conditions” that Fiona refers to:

    http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/01/04/53566/mental-health-in-the-workplace.html

  9. 1

    Improve Your Mood…

    Added on 29th March 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    Supporting Mental Health Action Week 4th – 11th April

    Brain Boosting Breakfast for the Team

    At Ultimate U we like to practice what we preach, so for Mental Health Action week we are going to have a Brain Boosting Breakfast in the office. 

    There is extensive evidence that what we eat impacts on our mood.  For example we know that people who encounter depression have been found to have low levels of the vitamin B6 and serotonin. 

    Our breakfast will have bananas (that will boost serotonin) and vitamin B6 boosters such as wholegrains, wholemeal bread and nuts plus some immune system boosting citrus.

    How about having a brain boosting breakfast in your office and promote mental health action week like us? Let us know what your office breakfasts have in them!

    Want to know more about boosting mental health in your workplace?

    Get in touch on 0800 970 6814

  10. 1

    Wonder Drug

    Added on 27th January 2010 by Fiona Yorke in Mental Wellbeing

    It’s official – it’s cycling!

    There I was on a very chilly Sunday morning waiting for the rest of the Sable Cycling Club to gather thinking – why am I doing this, it’s cold, it looks like it could rain and my fingers already feel frostbitten…then 15 minutes into the ride, the sun comes out, my fingers thawing, and I cannot contain the big cheesy grin on my face.  Is it the fresh air in your face?  The chance to see some wildlife?  The burning off of the Christmas mince pies?  I am not sure – but what I do know is that within 20 minutes my life was in perspective, I felt re-energised and all was well with the world.  So, forget looking for that ‘wonder drug’ get on your bike and go for it!