15th – 21st May 2023 is Mental Health Awareness Week, as promoted by leading charity, the Mental Health Foundation, reminding us all that we should take the subject of mental health very seriously.
This year, the focus is on the subject of anxiety, currently a much talked about topic, as the increased anxiety levels that occurred during lockdown have not yet dropped to pre-pandemic levels.
There are many myths surrounding the subject of anxiety, which Mental Health Awareness Week is looking to dispel. Basically, feelings of anxiety – including unease, worry or apprehension – are natural and an important response to stress, helping us to react quickly to situations of potential threat. Anxiety really becomes problematic if it’s persistent over a long period of time and starts to impact everyday life, stopping us doing what we want to do.
Redhill takes mental health very seriously and wants to ensure the mental wellbeing of all our members of staff, ensuring they enjoy a happy, fulfilled working life, without any undue levels of stress. To this end, we try to promote a good work/life balance, which includes finishing early on a Friday, so we can all benefit from and enjoy a long weekend.
Our new premises are situated alongside Arrow Valley Lake, giving our staff the opportunity to take a stroll at lunchtime in a lovely lakeside habitat, enabling them to stretch their legs, enjoy the fresh air and make the most of being close to nature.
We also aim to promote a positive workplace culture at Redhill, with good communication links, appropriate routes for addressing and resolving conflict and a general ethos of respecting one another. This ensures we listen to colleagues and operate an ‘open improvement channel’ comprising a works committee and Health & safety Committee, where comments are taken on board, discussed and relevant improvements instigated.
In addition, the majority of our workers are multi-skilled, helping to reduce stress in the workplace if we have deadlines to meet, as we can call on various teams to help, working collaboratively towards a common goal.
We believe our workspace is a good place to be, providing a supportive, nurturing environment, where people work hard, with good opportunities for self-development, and are encouraged to help one another, making the working day an enjoyable, rewarding experience.
Having said that, we understand that most people experience anxiety at some point in their lives, and, taking our lead from Mental Health Awareness Week, would encourage anyone experiencing problems to seek help or talk things over with family, friends or work colleagues.
