Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
In today’s society where mental health is more commonly spoken about than say 10 years ago, it can be easy for some meaning and importance to get lost. For Mental Health Awareness Week this year, we asked some of our employees three important questions: What is mental health to you? Why is it important to raise awareness? How do you stay mentally fit?
Here is what they had to say…
Gavin, Commercial Account Manager
What is mental health to you?
To me, mental health is about getting the balance right between the various factors that influence your life on a day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month basis. If one or multiple factors are off for any reason, I think it’s always best to try to address it as soon as you can.
Why is it important to raise awareness about mental health?
It’s important as it gives you a much better understanding of what makes you tick and what might need to be addressed, that it is okay to not be feeling your best all day every day and that speaking up can often lead to a beneficial outcome.
How do you stay mentally fit?
For the most part, I try to be almost selfish with my own time. Anything I enjoy, I try to do as often as possible and anything else I try to avoid. I exercise as regularly as I can, make time for the people I care about and enjoy being around most, and at all times I try to look and plan ahead so that there is always something to look forward to.
Ines, Head of Customer Service
What is mental health to you?
To me mental health is a huge part of how we feel and go through life. Having a good mental health means feeling well from an emotional, physiological and cognitive perspective. Handling stress in a healthy way, being able to make sensible decisions and thinking rationally would definitely fall into that bucket. In short, it is about being able to cope with internal and external pressures. Translation — whatever life throws at you!
Why is it important to raise awareness about Mental Health?
Although steps in the right direction have been taken in the past couple of years, I feel that mental health is still a concept people struggle to grasp or are uncomfortable discussing.
Whenever I talk about mental health with some individuals in my circle, they invariably associate it with diagnosed mental health conditions such as panic attacks, PTSD, and personality disorders. Being mentally healthy is so much more than just the absence of diagnosed mental disorders!
How do you stay mentally fit?
Over the years I realised that the first step in being mentally fit is knowing yourself (typical reactions, mood, behaviours, line of thought, etc.) and recognising when you are struggling.
From there you build your mental strength by finding your coping mechanisms — even mentally strong people have a hard time once in a while and need them.
Therefore, having a ‘what you see is what you get’ approach to life helps me massively, as I don’t waste my mental capacity on being someone I am not or playing games. Gradually stepping away from my perfectionist nature or the ability to cut toxic relationships in their early stages also played a big part.
Other than that, going back to healthy habits when I feel I am struggling (e.g. doing jigsaw puzzles was one of my favourite childhood pastimes and I resumed that activity in the middle of the pandemic after a tough week at work; just got back to swimming after a long time away from swimming pools) and hopefully keeping it up helps me stay mentally fit too.
Doing what I love professionally, although tough, and keeping my brain active with new challenges certainly does not harm either! Now I only need to cut down on the sugar! But you know what they say: ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.
Anthony, Technical Recruiter
What is mental health to you?
The half of health that doesn’t involve your physical body. Your mind being able to cope and function optimally day to day.
Why is it important to raise awareness about mental health?
It’s often neglected as poor mental health is more easily overlooked than poor physical health just because the symptoms are usually less visible. It’s also often misunderstood as a sign of weakness in more traditional or conservative cultures.
How do you stay mentally fit?
Relax and do things I enjoy like walking the dog, going out socially, and gaming.
Emily, Social Media Manager
What is mental health to you?
Mental health to me is my entire emotional, psychological and social being.
Why is it important to raise awareness about mental health?
The more we are informed, the better we can understand each other. When someone experiences poor mental health, we need the cultural norms of society to enable individuals to feel safe so that they are able to seek help and know where they can do so.
How do you stay mentally fit?
There are so many ways in which I actively look after my mental health but my favourite has to be the Hot Girl Walk, also known as #HGW. A Hot Girl Walk involves walking four miles daily (or more, I often do 10), whilst you zone out from the world by listening to a podcast and think about everything you’re grateful for, plus your hopes, dreams and goals. This phenomenon came around in 2020 during the pandemic and has stuck with me ever since. I find this incredibly helpful in keeping an all-round positive mindset throughout the week.
Smarkets has created a comfortable space for people to speak frankly and openly about their feelings, and sharing employees’ thoughts on mental wellbeing is key in creating this. It’s a place where ‘how are you?’ isn’t just a passing comment, but a genuine question that people truly want to know the answer to. To create this open environment initiatives such as weekly support groups and randomly paired catch-ups are used.
If you are interested in finding out more, or seeing the roles currently available at Smarkets, please visit smarkets.com/careers.
