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Five things we’ve learned about de-stigmatising mental health issues

To mark Time to Talk Day, which aims to get people talking about mental health, Nicole Seymour explains what Sanctuary has learned since signing up to a pledge to tackle stigma

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To mark #timetotalk Day, here are five things @HelloSanctuary has learned about de-stigmatising mental health issues, courtesy of Nicole Seymour #ukhousing

“The more empathy we can encourage between colleagues the more empathetic we’ll be able to be with residents” Nicole Seymour of @HelloSanctuary writes about the importance of de-stigmatising mental health issues #timetotalk #ukhousing

“We’ve encouraged staff to share their stories and celebrated their honesty”, Nicole Seymour of @HelloSanctuary writes about de-stigmatising mental health issues #timetotalk #ukhousing

Like many housing associations, Sanctuary has signed up to the Time to Change pledge.

This campaign, led by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, is designed to de-stigmatise mental health issues.

Today is Time to Talk Day, which marks a year since we first signed up, and we’ve reflected on what we’ve learned so far.

1. Lead from the top

If you want to create an environment where people feel comfortable talking about their mental health, it is critical the leaders of the organisation make it a priority.

Our executive committee is passionate about this issue and encourage our staff to have open and honest conversations.

With 13,000 staff based across the UK, it can be challenging to reach everyone who works for us.

We’ve addressed this with very visible internal communications with Craig Moule, our chief executive, talking directly to staff about the impact mental health issues can have, using a range of channels and personally championing this campaign.

2. Push yourselves

It’s all too easy to sign up to campaigns and not really embed them into your organisation.

To counter that, as part of the Time to Change action plan, we’ve set ourselves challenging targets about the number of mental health first aiders trained (178 this year), the number of mental health champions trained (129 so far) and the communications we need to have with staff.

We also need to recognise that for most people, work plays a significant role in their mental well-being.

Unless we acknowledge this relationship, and our role in enhancing our staff’s mental health, we can’t begin to address it.


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We are trying to create an organisation where every individual feels supported and that they are part of one team.

We’re definitely not perfect – no organisation is – but we want staff to know and feel the integrity of our intent.

3. Have honest conversations

When somebody is experiencing a mental health issue, they need an employer who they can be honest with.

We know from Time to Change’s research that 95% of people who are experiencing stress give a different reason when they call in sick.

“We’ve encouraged staff to share their stories and celebrated their honesty”

But secrecy can compound any shame the individual is feeling and ultimately make recovery more difficult.

We’ve encouraged staff to share their stories and celebrated their honesty – mental health issues aren’t pretty and recovery often isn’t linear but through sharing stories we help send a message to our teams that they can bring their whole self to work.

Honest conversations don’t start and finish with mental health issues, they need to run throughout the organisation and for people to feel that their employer has their back.

This is something we are putting a renewed focus on and we are trying to reinforce the benefits of it at all levels of the organisation.

4. Work out what practical support you can offer

If a staff member presents a mental health issue, in practical terms, what can you do? We are proud to provide an independent employee assistance programme which offers 24/7 telephone support and free counselling sessions.

With an often long wait for NHS mental health treatment, this is something concrete that we can offer.

I know from hearing people’s personal stories, this has provided support when it was needed the most.

5. Celebrate the services for residents

Everybody who works in social housing knows that many of our residents will also experience mental health issues and our teams are on the frontline of providing support in the most challenging of times.

We need to support them and celebrate the – sometimes unofficial – work they do, which can help residents feel they are being listened to in their lowest moments. Mind is doing great work in this area and I encourage you to check out their campaign which aims to ensure people with mental health problems are living in a place that’s right for them.

The more empathy and openness we can encourage between colleagues, or managers and their teams, the more empathetic we’ll be able to be with residents and the better service we will give them.

Mental health issues can affect anyone at any time, and at least one in four people reading this will have been affected.

As a housing sector we have a huge opportunity to influence and encourage the de-stigmatisation of mental health issues with our staff and our residents. It’s time for us all to talk about it.

Nicole Seymour, group director – corporate services, Sanctuary

What is Time to Change and Time to Talk?

Time to Change is a campaign, spearheaded by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, which aims to tackle stigmatisation around mental health issues.

It encourages employers to sign a pledge to demonstrate commitment to changing the way we think and act about mental health.

Organisations taking part draw up an action plan to get employees talking about mental health.

More than 900 organisations across all sectors have signed the pledge to date.

Time to Talk is a day of action on social media led by the campaign to encourage people to discuss mental health issues.

Watch a video about the campaign here:

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