Mental Health & Staying Connected
Mental Health Awareness
Last week was Mental Health Awareness week and it is particularly important to recognise this at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across the world and many of us have been in isolation now for over two months. There has been an impact on many of us in terms of mental health, an increase in stress or anxiety, levels of loneliness and a sense of disconnection from our work teams. Taking care of our mind as well as our health is really important while staying at home. We may feel bored and frustrated, but it is important to remember that it is OK to feel this way and that everyone reacts differently. Remember, this situation is temporary and, for most of us, these feelings will pass. Staying at home may be difficult, but you are helping to protect yourself and others by doing it.
We have put together some tips and advice here are things you can do now to help you keep on top of your mental well-being and cope with how you may feel while staying at home.
Stay connected with others – think of unique ways you can stay in touch with friends and family. If you used to enjoying meals with them, why not do them over a video call!
Take care of yourself & take time to relax – our physical health has a big impact on how we feel, and at times like these it can be easy to fall into an unhealthy pattern of behaviour. We have been enjoying some lovely summer weather recently so make use of spending time outside if it is safe to do so. Spending a few minutes relaxation can help with difficult emotions and worries, and is extremely important to our overall well-being.
Don’t stay glued to the news – try to limit the amount of time you spend watching reading or listening to the coverage of the outbreak on news and social media platforms, and consider turning those notification alerts off on your phone.
Look after your sleep – with different routines in place, many of us have found our sleeping patterns change. Remember good-quality sleep makes a big difference to how we feel, so its important to make sure we get enough.
Staying connected whilst working from home
For many people, co-workers are their main source of daily human interaction, but with Covid-19 disrupting daily life, and sending millions home to work remotely, office workers across the country are having to navigate new ways of connecting with colleagues they no longer see in person every day. Here at Anchorpoint Interiors we get together for a quick morning catch up on Microsoft Teams, to say hello to each other, share any exciting news and to help us stay connected as a team. Below we have put together some simple ideas on staying connected with you team:
Recreate morning coffee breaks – just because there are no break rooms to hang out in with colleagues doesn’t mean morning coffee catch ups have to stop. Why not have a video chat room link set up for workers to join in the morning to chat over coffee?
Encourage friendly competition – those games you use to play in the office, move them to a digital platform to enable you to continue the competitive fun.
Team messaging apps – sending group emails is not the same as having direct conversation, so this is where team messaging apps are very useful. Why not set up a group WhatsApp chat as a quick and easy way to communicate with your team, send pictures and share good news!
