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Positive wellbeing is vital for workplace productivity The importance of positive mental health has never been showcased more than in the last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused suffering and hardship on a monumental scale, and this has had an adverse impact on the wellbeing of millions of people. According to the charity MIND, one in four people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England, and one in six people experience a common mental health problem such as anxiety and depression in any given week in England. These figures are likely to have become even more stark in light of the pandemic – creating a gap in the market for professionals who can provide a service to help people who are struggling with their mental health. Chamber member Nicholas Rose is one of those professionals whose services have been called upon during the pandemic. A qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, he established Chiswick-based London Counselling Practice in 2009 to help individuals and businesses work through problems and tackle mental health issues. Services offered include inhouse therapeutic support and consultancy at times of acute stress or crisis – when
bereavement or redundancy strikes, for example – and group sessions on how to manage stress and anxiety. Nicholas says: “From a business perspective, positive workplace mental health is vital to ensure that staff remain healthy and productive and businesses remain competitive and profitable.
“In the current climate organisations benefit from building staff resilience. The way to do that is to be proactive and flexible and show strong leadership. While working patterns have changed during the pandemic – possibly for good – managers should recognise that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Some people may enjoy working from home, for example, while others may crave the social aspect of the office. “The challenge for managers is to support staff in different ways, to recognise their individual needs and to incorporate this within a strategy that benefits their organisation. How do managers
involve everyone in the business to give them the opportunity to contribute? Does the business strategy give staff a strong sense of direction? Does everyone know what their role is within the organisation? “These questions have become even more important in the pandemic. The COVID crisis has taught many managers the value of positive mental health and wellbeing. In the US, many companies have a chief wellbeing officer who is as important as the chief financial officer. Perhaps we will start to see this more in the UK.” Before he started his current venture, Nicholas enjoyed a career in various marketing and business strategy roles. He developed a keen interest in change management and how change can affect people in different ways. In the current climate in which people’s lives have been turned upside down by the COVID crisis, the ability to adapt has been crucial. Nicholas himself has had to be agile; he moved many
of his company’s services online when COVID restrictions meant he couldn’t see clients in person. Nicholas says: “We’ve seen some interesting trends during the pandemic. For example, part-time staff who’ve been asked to work from home have often coped with this better than full-time staff who are used to being based in the office from 9am to 5pm, five days a week.
“Going forwards, our aim is to work with more organisations to help them manage change and ensure the positive wellbeing of their staff. We have clients in Hammersmith, Ealing and other parts of London as we widen our reach, and we’ve won plenty of new work through word of mouth. “We’ve been fortunate in that there has been a huge focus on psychological wellbeing. When someone is hit by a tragic event, such as a bereavement, they tend to get a lot of support initially and then that fizzles out as life carries on. It’s important for organisations to realise that this person may be suffering long after the event has happened.”
In the current climate organisations benefit from building staff resilience. The way to do that is to be proactive and flexible and show strong leadership 18
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