Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 - More support

This Mental Health Awareness Week we have been talking about anxiety, sharing some insights into how anxiety can impact us, giving you some tips on how to manage your own anxiety and to support others in managing theirs.

Whilst Mental Health Awareness Week is a great opportunity to throw a spotlight on mental health, the support doesn’t stop there.

We have a range of resources that can support us managing our mental health at any time and with nearly three quarters of the population having felt anxious at least sometime in the previous two weeks, and one in five people anxious most or all of the time, it’s important that we continue these conversations.

Increase your knowledge of Mental Health through our iLearn courses

We have a series of iLearn courses on mental health and wellbeing topics for you to explore which will help to equip you with a better understanding of not only your own mental health, but also your colleagues and communities mental health and wellbeing too.

Log on to iLearn to take a look at what’s available. You can use the search function to find courses on:

• Mental Health
• Mentally Healthy Workplace
• Introduction to Mental Health
• How to Support Yourself and Others with Mental Health
• Tackling Mental Health Stigmas and Discrimination
• Healthy Living
• Avoiding Burnout
• Mindfulness
• Understanding Loneliness
• Recognising and Managing Anxiety

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy

At Orkney Islands Council promoting the health and wellbeing of all employees and ensuring that everyone is treated fairy with dignity and respect is a priority. Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy was recently updated and signed off at Committee and aims to encourage people to talk about mental health and support individuals experiencing symptoms. There are a number of tools included in the policy including a Mental Health and Wellbeing Guide for Managers, Managing Workplace Stress Guide for Managers and Wellness Action Plans. Take a look at the attached policy and guides for more detail and we will be running briefing sessions on the Mental Health and Wellbeing policy shortly so keep an eye open for the dates coming through.

Other resources for supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing

There are some great resources out there. Some useful ones that we have found are listed below:

NHS Guides

NHS have a series of short audio guides for mental health and wellbeing to help challenge negative thoughts and feelings.

Mental wellbeing audio guides - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

National Wellbeing Hub

The National Wellbeing Hub was established in 2020 to help support the wellbeing of everyone working in health and social care in Scotland. It’s packed full of resources, guides and webinars and well worth a look whether you are working directly in a Health and Social Care role, with a health and social care partnership, as an unpaid carer or are just interested to find out more.

Mental Health Support Service

The free Mental Health Support Service, funded through Access to Work and delivered through Able Futures and Maximus. The service offers nine months confidential, no cost advice, guidance and support from mental health professionals to help you cope with work while you manage mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression or stress.  

Maximus are offering webinars providing an overview of the Mental Health Support Service. You can book through Eventbrite for the next available webinars here.

What works for you?

Drop us an email at OD@orkney.gov.uk with any resources that you have found useful to support mental health and wellbeing so we can share them.