Promoting mental health at the council

Today we’d like to share with you some of the speech given by Laney Walsh, UNISON branch secretary at Redditch Borough Council, at our last MHAG meeting. It was great to hear Laney talk about the work being done within the town and how this is being recognised far beyond the borough boundaries. Some of the comments which particularly inspired us were:

 

 

 

On taking part in the Time to Change pledge: “I knew there would be some interest but I was really surprised at the high level of interest there was and therefore the high need for support in the workplace. Staff are suffering silently because mental health is perceived to be a weakness. It is perceived to be a condition of choice and a condition you create yourself...It has evolved in a big way, there are action plans within the workforce and most senior managers have signed individual pledges as have the majority of elected members.”

 

On going to an awards ceremony where they were given a regional prize for health and safety based on the mental health work they are doing: “The president of UNISON is a mental health nurse and her words at the awards ceremony were: 'this is pioneering and trailblazing'. She wants to come to the council to see what's happening.”

 

On how fantastic Redditch is!: “I do think Redditch and Bromsgrove are pioneering towns, they are taking the bull by the horns and speaking about things other people are scared to talk about. That's the biggest barrier to overcome now - I have always felt mental health is the unknown, the unspoken, the unacknowledged and the brushed aside. We are taking it forward and making it better and easier for people to deal with.

There's not anybody out there that hasn't been touched by something. Redditch and Bromsgrove councils have a workforce of approximately 1,000 with around one in four affected by mental health. We would never ignore that if it was a physical illness. Employers are starting to understand but there is still a long way to go and I'm in it til the end.”

 

On speaking up about mental health in the workplace: “Health, safety and wellbeing is a very different thing now to what it was 20 years ago. Until we start standing up and saying you're making me ill, we are not going to see big changes. It is a drip drip effect.

Staff want someone to listen without judging, be there for them and realise it's not a weakness. I think it's a strength - there's a strength in a mentally ill person that's not found in everybody.”