Here are all of the things that you can do quickly, easily and either for free or for a relatively inexpensive amount in one handy list đ
30 things you can do for mental health
1. Create a mental health channel in your internal messaging service (if you donât have one, start a weekly mental health email to the company)
- Share mental health content, books, podcasts and interviews youâve been checking out
- Ask others to do the same
2. Share relevant mental health in the workplace content directly with your senior leaders who are responsible for budget
3. Find the most senior person possible within the business and ask them to support or sponsor you with mental health in the workplace
- Ask them to personally send an email to the company telling everyone that theyâre doing this – leading from the front is powerful
4. Create or join a mental health committee at work
- Have people from different parts of the business join so all areas are represented
5. Create a mental health culture club – a group call where you can talk about things youâve seen in mental health i.e discussing a documentary
6. Start sharing with the team how youâve been feeling and doing
7. Share the same thing with your manager
8. Ask others how theyâve been feeling and doing, and really listen to the response
9. Sign the Mental Health at Work Commitment
10. If you do have any internal mental health services or offerings – try them, even if youâre not sure about them. Then share your experience of them to others and promote them
11. Pay for a single Headspace/Calm subscription and play their meditations in a group meditation session (in-person or over Zoom)
12. Or, if you can, pay for a company subscription to Headspace or Calm so everyone has private access
13. Stream a Yoga with Adrienne on Youtube and do company Yoga
14. Tell people in your company how you are working on your mental health
15. Hold your own boundaries around your working hours – tell people when youâre logging off
16. Take holidays and encourage others to take theirs – keep track that people are taking them
17. Introduce a âone-word check-inâ at the start of meetings – an honest word of how people are feeling
18. Write or suggest a mental health sick day policy where mental health sick days are equivalent to any sick day – you can see and download the exact copy of ours here for inspiration.
19. Attend webinars or events about mental health and share that youâre going with the team
20. Host a lunch and learn on mental health with someone from your company who is willing to share their own experiences – powerful
21. Or host one with an external speaker – also powerful
22. Share the Sanctus Directory with your team – a free resource that details free and paid services for peopleâs mental health
23. Organise easy socials for you and the team – something as simple as a team walk with no phones (maybe a little harder until weâre all back in the office)
24. Hear from your employees – create an anonymous mental health and wellbeing survey using something like Typeform
25. Make wellbeing a company OKR or goal – something that is shared across the business
26. Ask managers to check-in on peopleâs wellbeing in 1:1s
27. Listen to this podcast we recorded with an HR legend, Hannah Keal – Where to start with mental health in the workplace
28. Download some free mental health posters that you can stick around the workplace or advertise on your internal intranet. Steal ours here đ
29. Tell the company that youâre doing all of this, or at least looking into it, in an email. Be honest about the journey youâre hoping to go on with it. Just them seeing youâre taking it seriously will have a big impact
30. Follow Sanctus on LinkedIn – okay, a bit cheeky, but we had to put it in there đ
What to do next
Thereâs a huge range of things to do here, and you donât need to do them all in one go, or even do all of them at all.
Just start with one thing – then build out a roadmap using this list – try and tick certain things off by a certain date.
The important thing is just getting started đ