Mental Health Awareness Week May 2023

This week the Natta Group is supporting Mental Health Awareness Week 2023. The yearly campaign is run by the charity Mental Health Foundation. The week is a time for individuals, organisations, and communities to come together to raise awareness about the importance of looking after your mental health and reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness. The charity aims to provide support and resources for those who struggle with their mental health.

This year’s campaign theme is ‘anxiety’, which is one of the most prevalent mental health issues in the UK. The symptoms of anxiety can be different for each individual. Common symptoms of anxiety are: increased heart rate, headaches, loss of appetite, feeling sick, breathlessness or chest pain. In a recent report carried out by the charity, they found that ‘nearly three-quarters of the population (73%) had felt anxious at least sometimes in the previous two weeks. One in five people (20%) feel anxious most or all of the time.’

Resources available to Team Natta

In 2022, Natta signed up to The Mental Health Charter and also became a supporter of The Lighthouse Club Charity. Since then, we have created a Mental Health Hub for our staff. They can access helpful information and resources to help support their needs. We have rolled out the Construction Industry Helpline App on our staff’s mobile phones. So, if they need to talk to someone confidentially or need help quickly, the aid is there at their fingertips.

Here at Head Office, our staff have access to a gym and break out room, which can be used if they want to work out, or simply take a break away from their desks. We also hold a monthly Staff Social for our Head Office staff. These provide a great opportunity to get to know people in a relaxed setting, outside of the working environment. Each year the Natta Group celebrates Wellness Week. The week encourages our staff to participate in a range of activities throughout the working week, relating to both health and wellbeing and how to take better care of ourselves.

Make It Visible Event Site Visits

This month, we welcomed back The Lighthouse Club’s ‘Make It Visible’ Team, this time to our project at Legoland Windsor. Our fellow workers from our Slough Project, where we are undertaking the groundworks for a Data Centre for Wates Group also joined the event.

The group had the opportunity to take part in open discussions surrounding the importance of looking after your mental health. They learnt about the different free resources available to construction workers through charity. Their Help Inside the Hard Hat Campaign aims to encourage construction workers and their families to seek support about struggles they may be facing, in a confidential setting, without the fear of facing any stigma.

Make It Visible Event at Natta’s Legoland Windsor Project.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Courses

As a business, we are rolling out the Lighthouse Wellbeing Masterclass as well as a number of mental health and wellbeing courses. Our training provider, CISTC, also run Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). These first aid courses include an in-depth understanding of mental health and what factors can affect well-being in a workplace. The course also includes practical skills to recognise the triggers and signs of mental health.

Get Involved!

Mental Health Foundation is encouraging people to get involved by sharing our personal experiences of how to cope with their own feelings of anxiety. Share your story on social media by using the #ToHelpMyAnxiety. Explore more ways to get involved with the week here.