Exciting news about EnergyMind

Update from Mark – 15th May 2020

Firstly – I hope all is well with you, your family and friends and your colleagues. 

It’s been a while since my last update to you all, but we’ve been busy planning our next steps and thinking about the feedback we took from workshops and surveys in the earlier part of the year. 

Lockdown for me personally has flown by and I’m grateful for the fact that my family, friends and my team have avoided the virus itself. It’s been challenging at times, juggling a new way of working (I’m literally glued to Microsoft Teams 7-8 hours a day), whilst also attempting home schooling, managing a new puppy (Alfie the lockdown cocker spaniel.. don’t be fooled by the angelic pose) and keeping healthy (well trying to…). I must say I’ve really appreciated the extra contact I’ve had from friends and people within my network to check in with me from time to time.  

As for EnergyMind, I wish I’d had the capacity to do more, and a bit sooner. Having said that, a small group of us rallied around a Government Innovation Funding scheme in April with a terrific business case for an EnergyMind app, and in planning for next week’s Mental Health Awareness Week we’ve had lots of volunteers providing content and their experiences through short blogs, which we’ll be sharing next week.

There are some tremendous positives to come out of our current experience. I’m really noticing how much more talk there is about wellbeing in our sector, and how employers are encouraging staff to take time to communicate and talk about new pressures that exist. I’m also very aware of how people’s recent experiences ebb and flow more frequently, and how everyone is having a different experience depending on their own personal circumstances. 

Just before lockdown, energy professionals from across the UK told us about their experiences of wellbeing support in the energy sector through our survey and our workshops. One of the stand-out points of feedback was that 70% of survey respondents said there’s a lack of adequate support for mental wellbeing within their organisation.

As a result of the survey and the four workshops, we’re progressing a strategy to deliver something unique to the sector, which will include the following:

–       EnergyMind Allies – initiating the training of ‘Mental Wellbeing Allies’ within energy businesses across the sector, with sector-specific materials and guides

–       Business Buddies – to provide businesses that are just starting their wellbeing journey with guidance from a business that already has a successful wellbeing programme in place

–       The EnergyMind Hub – to give every energy professional access to wellbeing resources, wherever they are

–       Wellbeing networks – regional (including virtual) networking events for those who want to connect, talk or share, and to build up further knowledge around mental wellbeing at work

If you’d like to get more involved with building and implementing these solutions, please get in touch. We would like to do this with volunteers as much as possible, so that funding can be put into the resources where technical input is needed (such as advice from qualified mental health medics and coaches).

Got ten minutes?

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week (18th-24th May), and as the Covid-19 crisis continues to put extra pressure on energy professionals, we want to provide as much support as we can. So, we’ll be launching our Take Ten Minutes campaign to encourage people to take just ten minutes to do something that will boost their wellbeing every day.

Your support in sharing the materials (which will come from volunteers across the sector) would be much appreciated.  We’re also planning some drop-in virtual events over the coming month, so be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Once again, thank you for your support – EnergyMind is all about the industry sharing its unique experiences and building support for one another. 

All the best

Mark

Mark@energymind.org.uk

#EnergyMindsMatter