Blog 1
Happy Minds at work Blog
Reflecting on 2020 and Looking to the Future
Jan - Feb 2021
COVID Response
When the Covid-19 pandemic began to affect our communities in March last year, we at Happy Minds at work had many conversations about the potential mental health impacts of the pandemic. With so many people around the world feeling isolated and anxious due to social distancing requirements, and with the economic downturn that resulted in so many people losing their jobs and struggling with increased financial insecurity, we anticipated that there would be a greater need for daily wellbeing. While we initially saw a dip in new member numbers in late March, we are now seeing new member numbers climb back up to pre-pandemic levels.
At Happy Minds, we have a unique window into the mental health state of the collective, as we talk to and provide wellbeing services for thousands of employees every week, we see a unique snapshot of individual mental health needs.
We have seen many enquiries coming in from those seeking assistance with wellbeing due to experiencing stress, anxiety, worry, lost jobs, challenged relationships, and increased pressures from many other angles. Members also mention how mental health needs that had gone unaddressed before the pandemic are now further compounded by the pandemic’s effects. In the upcoming months, we anticipate a large need for more government awareness in the need for wellbeing as a stable routine in peoples lives.
New ways to connect
We knew that connecting with each other would be even more important in this uncertain and rapidly changing time, so we wanted to create new invitations for people to connect. We also wanted to share more tips and resources to support mental health and wellbeing at this challenging time.
So, we gathered together the best of our Wellbeing Webinars – to give people a chance to connect and to highlight the incredible work being done on by many other people in the field of wellbeing at the community level. We also started facilitating online 'Listening Spaces' where our clients could chat with people from other businesses and countries, often strangers to begin with, but end up sharing a common view and interest in wellbeing and how together, we can all get through this pandemic, to some degree one of the strangest of human experiences. It has been such a big challenge that the results and the connections made between people of different companies and backgrounds as been an equally big success. We only hope to work together with more groups and communities in the future in order to try and reach as many people as possible.
