Mental Health Awareness Week

After the last year, we are proud to be supporting Mental Health Awareness Week.

Everyone that knows Apollo knows that one of our pillars of success is the mental and physical wellbeing of everyone in the business.

Two of our core values are

:

  • Attitude – we have a positive attitude that is open, honest and respectful, willing to improve and challenge the status quo.
  • Enjoyment – we recognise the importance of enjoying work and supporting our colleagues.

During COVID lockdown and while working from home we’ve continued to work hard and support one another.

The last year has been incredibly challenging and the resilience, openness, and support that our team has shown for one another has been amazing to watch.

We introduced a buddy system encouraging people to take half an hour out of their day and catch up on all things life. We’ve been holding monthly company updates to ensure everyone feels included in the business direction, and events to encourage the social nature of Apollo and the spirit of gathering on the ‘last Friday of every month’ to relax and let off some steam.

The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week this year is nature.

Research has shown that going for walks outside has been one of the top coping strategies, and 45% of people reported that green spaces have been vital for our mental health.

Lead by our Mental Health First Aider, Apollo has run several initiatives supporting good mental and physical health. In November we encouraged staff to get outdoors and away from their computers by organising a race from John ‘o’ Groats to Lands’ End. Teams competed to run, cycle, swim and walk to cover the distance. We followed this up in January with 6 weeks of online HIIT and Yoga classes delivered by an external personal trainer.

This week an anonymous survey asked people about their mental health after a prolonged period of working from home and, and their thoughts relating to how we should shape our return to the office.

We appreciate a return to the office may result in a range of emotions from apprehension to enthusiasm. Involving everyone in the process will help guide leadership in implementing appropriate short and longer-term office working arrangements.

So keep getting outdoors, control what can be controlled and if you need it, check out mentalhealth.org.uk/your-mental-health/getting-help for some great resources.