Mental Health and Wellness Policy

Human Made is committed to promoting your mental wellbeing.  Mental health can affect our thinking, emotions and behaviour. We each play a part in promoting our own and others’ mental wellbeing. We’ve set out some positive steps you can take to support your mental health and how we can help. We’ve included details of who you can contact if you are experiencing mental health issues. You should also let Siobhan or the person’s manager know if you are concerned about a colleague’s mental health. 

Talking about your mental health

We know that telling someone that you’re living with a mental health issue can be a difficult step to take. We want to reassure you that when you’re ready to talk, we’ll be here to listen.  We will be offering training to our line managers to ensure that they’re ready to listen and discuss any support that you might need.

We’d encourage you to talk to your line manager in the first instance so that they can provide you with the support you need. You can ask your manager for a chat or mention it to them at your next catch up – whatever works for you. 

What happens next?

That’s totally up to you – we understand that there’s no one size fits all and that’s why we want you to stay in control. You might feel it’s enough for your manager or the company just to be aware of what you’re experiencing or it may be that you want our support to make changes to your work or work environment. You can discuss and agree what will happen next.

Our commitment

If you approach us to share your or a colleague’s mental health concerns, we’re committed to making sure that we:

  • Listen to you and talk to you about what we can do to help;
  • Keep the information you’ve told us confidential (unless we worry that you or anyone else is in immediate danger);
  • Treat you with respect and won’t judge you or make assumptions about your mental health;
  • Treat any concerns of bullying or harassment seriously in accordance with our Dignity and Respect at Work Policy.

We’re committed to supporting humans to manage your mental wellbeing. If you are struggling you should speak to your manager to see how we can help. We provide access to counselling for humans struggling with mental health or occupational health. 

Where you’ve approached us about mental health concerns, we may discuss with you the following support options too:

  • Wellbeing support plan – this can be used to help you identify what keeps you well at work, what causes you to become unwell and the support you’d like to receive to improve your wellbeing.
  • Wellbeing communication plan – we understand that when you’re suffering from mental ill-health, it can be difficult to keep in touch or talk to others. We might find it useful to create a wellbeing communication plan so that we’re clear about what communications you may want from us, in what way and who we can contact when you’re not well enough to discuss your mental health with us.
  • Stress risk assessment – whether you’re experiencing stress or want to ensure that you don’t, a stress risk assessment can be a useful way of helping you to identify and deal with any factors that are causing you stress.
  • Medical support – we may encourage you to speak to your GP, occupational health or a medical expert for support. They’ll be able to provide more information about your mental health, what impact it has and the best way to support you in your recovery. We may provide financial assistance for counselling on a case-by-case basis. You should contact Siobhan to discuss.
  • Employee adjustment agreement – where we agree adjustments to the way we communicate with you, your ways of working or your job role to support your mental health, we may want to capture those adjustments in an employee adjustment agreement. This helps us to be clear on what adjustments are being made and when we’ll review them to see how effective they are in supporting you.

Positive steps to good mental health

We all have a part to play in ensuring that we get the most out of work whilst at the same time keeping healthy, fit, active and resilient. 

Human Made is committed to doing what we can to ensure you’re happy and healthy.  Your manager will:

  • communicate well and often as possible;
  • understand work pressures fluctuate on a daily basis and put in place ways to help you manage those pressures;
  • make sure there are appropriate resources for you to do your job, ensuring workloads are realistic and manageable;
  • discuss, listen, react and follow up on any signs of anxiety, harassment or bullying through the appropriate policy;
  • look for patterns of behaviour or absence that might suggest there is a bigger issue that needs to be discussed;
  • remind you if you don’t seem to be taking enough holiday or are not taking holiday at regular intervals across the year;
  • monitor overtime and holidays encouraging you to take breaks when appropriate;
  • be conscious of your personal circumstances and offer additional support where appropriate. We recognise you may have personal circumstances making you vulnerable at times to pressures at work. We will discuss those circumstances with you where you are comfortable doing so and plan how you can manage them best.

In turn we want all humans to:

  1. take care of yourself and those around you and let your line manager know any personal, health or work concerns or experiences that might impact on you personally or your work, as soon as you’re able;
  2. help your line manager to spot health or other personal issues that might be developing or building which, if tackled early, could be avoided or managed well;
  3. encourage colleagues to speak with their line manager where they confide in you about issues that might have an impact on them personally or their work;
  4. take early and positive steps to manage concerns or issues and follow the appropriate policy in doing so;
  5. take at least 20 days’ holiday a year and ensure that your holiday is spread across the year (at least 5 days per quarter);
  6. engage in any exit interview that you’re invited to and talk openly about your experience working with us;
  7. engage in conversation with occupational health if you or we have identified an opportunity to work with them or secure their support.

If you don’t feel able to speak with your line manager about something that falls under this policy please raise it with their line manager.

We will provide training for line managers responsible for the health and happiness of any person and in particular help them to spot causes, signs, symptoms and stressful situations and how to deal with them best.

Just like our physical health, there are positive steps that you can take to ensure that you’re fuelling our bodies and minds in the best way.  We’ve listed some of them below:

  • Take good care of your body – exercise regularly and eat healthily;
  • Get a good night’s sleep – try to get as much sleep as you need;
  • Take time to unwind– make sure you’re spreading your holiday days throughout the holiday year so that you’re getting regular breaks and recharging your batteries;
  • Be logical – plan realistic and achievable goals each day;
  • Be mindful  – take a breath and consider the bigger picture;
  • Develop a positive mindset – focus on all the great things you’ve achieved (however small they may seem);
  • Focus on what’s important to you – do more of what you enjoy and surround yourself with those that make you feel good. 
  • Reach out for support – beyond your line manager/others, there are lots of support options available to you. We’ve set out some contact details below.

Points of contact

We’ve listed below contact details of different support options available to you:

Accessed Tue, 26 Jan 2021 15:40:07 +0000 from https://handbook.hmn.md/working-here/hr-policies/mental-health-and-wellness-policy/

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