Grapevine didn’t need a formalised mental health and wellbeing strategy for 31 years. Staff stayed with the company for three decades because care and consideration for its people came naturally. Showing respect and understanding for the inevitable complications in life, whenever they should occur for each employee in the business, gave individuals the breathing space when they needed it most.
In the spirit of not resting on our laurels, this year we took our unspoken commitment a step further with Donna, Elise, James and I completing a mental health ‘first aid’ training course.
Having suffered from a nasty spell of depression in 2012 myself (and lived with the daily management of keeping it at bay since) I thought I was pretty well versed in how to handle mental health. The training session was a total eye opener for me, the science alone of how the brain reacts under pressure gave me an entirely new perspective and appreciation for how fragile this all is.
Following the course we have each made ourselves available to our colleagues whenever they should need to talk. I’d like to extend this to anyone reading, please reach out if I can ever be of help.
The view in this photo might not look like much, but I pause here most days on my walk to look out over Poole, where so much of my life is contained and remind myself how small it all is. It helps me to observe my feelings rather than be overwhelmed by them.
Liam Toms 