‘This Is Me’ - working together to end stigma surrounding mental health
Setting the scene
Businesses including PwC, Barclays, Sellafield and United Utilities, along with football clubs and mental health charities, make up some of the organisations who came together to demonstrate to their employees that it is important to talk about mental health.
‘This is Me’ launched in Manchester in May 2018, the first time it was launched outside the capital, to coincide with the start of Mental Health Awareness Week. A launch took place at the Hilton Deansgate with guest speaker Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, who was lending his support to the campaign.
“Good mental health is fundamental to all our lives – an essential and precious resource that needs to be protected and enhanced. That’s why I’m pleased to be supporting This is Me, which is now being rolled out across Greater Manchester – showing once again how we are leading the way by being the first city region outside of London to adopt the campaign."
How we helped
‘This is Me’ challenges the stigma around mental health at work and aims to break the culture of silence by supporting people to tell their own stories. 'This is Me' was initiated by Barclays in 2013 and in 2016 The Lord Mayor's Appeal partnered with Barclays and others to encourage more organisations to run the campaign.
Making a difference
The stigma often associated with mental health means people may not recognise what’s happening or are too afraid to ask for help. At PwC, we’re proudly committed to ending this stigma.
Lisa, an IT Manager at PwC, experienced a period of depression about 10 years ago and more recently has lived with anxiety.
Talking of her experiences, Lisa said: “I tried various different things to help with my anxiety and in particular I found mindfulness really helpful in recovering from anxiety, in terms of living in the present and dealing with difficult emotions. I have also found it helpful to get involved in PwC's wellbeing network (DAWN) and share my experiences.”
She added: “I believe that talking about mental health issues really makes a difference in terms of creating an open culture around the subject and supporting people who are experiencing difficulties. I hope that as we continue to develop this open culture we can help people not only recover but go from strength to strength after experiencing mental health issues."
"We appointed our first full time Mental Health Leader in January 2016 and in the same year, a group of wellbeing champions launched ‘Green Light to Talk’, aimed at encouraging mental health awareness and more open conversations at work.”
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