We are thrilled to announce that Anything is Possible has been awarded the Best Agency Mental Health Awareness Initiative at the UK Company Culture Awards 2023. This award recognizes the agency’s outstanding commitment to promoting mental health and well-being in the workplace, and our innovative approach to supporting employees’ mental health needs.
Our work is fast-paced, complex and nuanced. We know we’re asking a lot from our Possiblists*. So we have to give a lot back.
As we have scaled we have needed to embed and systematise our Mental Health Awareness processes. Relying on a culture of transparency and close relationships works fine for ten people. Making it work for fifty is impossible.
Except, we’re Anything is Possible. So we had to find a way.
As we went into 2022 we decided we would make our ‘small is beautiful’ MHA ethos work across a growing, medium sized agency.
Our new policy ensures for every ten people in the agency, one is a trained MH First-Aider. It also establishes our colleagues’ Mental Health as an operational priority, and has helped promote a culture of empowerment and education, enabling colleagues to manage their own – and each others’ – Mental Health.
Achieving one in ten
We trained three MH first-aiders in 2022, bringing our total to four, in line with MHFA England’s recommendation of one first-aider for every ten employees. These four then formed our MH and Wellbeing Team to develop initiatives to ensure everyone receives effective care and support. This team is responsible for giving colleagues the skills and knowledge needed to recognize and respond to signs of mental health problems.
In addition, we have developed a comprehensive mental health support system that provides employees with access to a range of resources and services, including counseling services, mental health assessments, and an employee assistance program that offers confidential support and advice on a range of mental health issues.
Sharing our light
Receiving this award is a great endorsement of our wish to throw some light on the advertising and marketing industries’ Mental Health Awareness blind spot:
Agency life is stressful. Burnout is real. High achievement comes at high cost. And workplace Mental Health Awareness needs to be about more than just free fruit and yoga. We chose this priority: to protect the people who make our agency what it is – our Possiblist* colleagues.
The UK Company Culture Award for Best Mental Health Awareness Initiative is a recent addition to the category list. And it shows that the message is getting through, delivering concrete achievement and improvement on a fact that agencies love to discuss at length, but do little to remedy in practice.
What is a Possiblist? If you’re asking that question you might already be one. Get in touch with us to find out for sure.
