The annual cost of poor mental health to the economy is between £74 and £99 bn per year, in the UK alone. Those numbers are staggering – and yet, there’s still a stigma that surrounds mental healthcare, even though the conversation is changing. The reality is that mental health isn’t just about problems – everyone has it all the time, it’s integral to proper functioning of the human brain and body. Taking care of your mind is no different than brushing your teeth.
All of the above is what has prompted clinical psychologist, Dr. Nick Taylor, to create Unmind – a B2B platform that offers corporate solutions for employees’ mental health support.
Commitment to a healthy mind
As Dr. Taylor stated last year, “Mental health is a spectrum, and we found that every organization has people across that spectrum. Some are thriving, some are struggling. The key thing is that each person, wherever they are on the spectrum, has the right support”. This kind of bespoke approach is in the essence of Unmind. It performs an assessment of an individual’s mental health through questionnaires and mood diaries and then offers personalized recommendations. Team solutions are also available, such as peer support.
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Taking care of your mental health shouldn’t be stressful. Unmind’s B2B-oriented approach takes into account the specifics of our “busy lives”. Its sessions are available in bite-sized bits so as not to add more stress to your plate.
All the user sessions are anonymous, of course. However, the employer has access to the overall trends presented in the form of anonymized data, to help them get an insight into the overall mood of the people and implement any relevant HR strategies.
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In practice
Unmind is already trusted by companies like John Lewis, Square Enix, William Hill, and others. The latter has hosted a “Be your best self” campaign earlier this year, in accordance with its holistic approach to mental health, supported by Unmind.
The program is now used in many other countries of the world. That momentum, together with Unmind’s recent raise of £3m with the help of Felix Capital, are what appears to be positive steps towards creating a trend of workplaces where mental health isn’t a mild inconvenience but something to be “universally understood, nurtured and celebrated”.
YouTube: Video tutorial: Unmind’s Dr. Nick Taylor on valuing your workforce’s mental health
Photo credit: The feature image “a beautiful sadness” has been done by Vince Collura.
Sources: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers / Digital Health Age / Startacus / Steve O’Hear (TechCrunch) / Laura Lovett (MobiHealthNews) Jessica Bird (employeebenefits)
