Time to Talk about mental health
On 'Time to Talk' day, Sellafield Ltd director, Euan Hutton, has talked to our employees about his experiences of mental health.
To mark 'Time to Talk' day, Euan Hutton from Sellafield Ltd, talked to Sellafield Ltd employees about his experiences.
Approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem at some point in life.
For an organisation as large as Sellafield Ltd, that means that around 4000 employees will encounter issues with their mental health.
So, why is nobody talking about it?
To mark 鈥楾ime to Talk鈥� Day, Euan Hutton from Sellafield Ltd talked to employees about his experiences.
He said:
皇冠体育app culture of silence associated with discussing mental health makes these issues worse and opening up to a colleague or friend is often the first step to recovery.
From now on, I am encouraging everyone to open up to talking about mental health. To managers and team leaders: create the environment for open conversation on this topic and reassure your team that they will not be judged for reaching out. To everyone in the organisation: look out for your team mates; step in if they don鈥檛 seem themselves or if they are behaving differently and let them know you鈥檙e there for them.
I鈥檇 never ask anyone to do something I wouldn鈥檛 do myself鈥o here goes nothing.
In the past I鈥檝e had issues with one of my kidneys which I鈥檝e had treatment for. It comes up in conversation sometimes, and I鈥檝e always been happy to talk about. I鈥檝e got a bit of arthritis in my ankle which I鈥檝e openly talked about, it鈥檚 painful. It is as a result of breaking my ankle playing rugby when I was younger.
皇冠体育appse are health issues which aren鈥檛 exactly public as such, but which I鈥檓 certainly comfortable talking about openly.
What I have struggled to talk about openly is that in 2012, not long before I came back to work at Sellafield, I had counselling to help me deal with stress and anxiety.
I had the counselling because I was ill. It was medical treatment for an illness. Just like my kidney and my ankle.
On the face of it I didn鈥檛 have anything to be anxious about. I was doing okay at work, I鈥檓 happily married and have three great kids and a loving family. I鈥檓 not unique or special. But I was ill. I needed help and treatment, and I got it, and I got better.
Mental health is the same as physical health. Any one of us can be affected at any time. We don鈥檛 choose it, it chooses us.
That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e encouraging people to talk in the workplace, and directing people to where more help is available.