Placing mental health first in PR

Ana By Ana

I would love to say that I was truly shocked at the news that half of PR pros experienced "severe" stress, anxiety, or burnout in the past 12 months: but sadly I was not. We may have come out of the other side of the pandemic, but now we face a cost-of-living crisis and potential recession, so external stresses show no sign of going away soon ☹. As PR professionals we face ongoing unique time and communications pressures which is why PR often features on the lists for the most stressful jobs. What did truly shock me was that the industry is not doing enough to help deal with mental health and stress and that 9 in 10 people did not feel satisfied with their company’s response once they reported their mental health problems.

At Spark we take mental health very seriously. Here are some of the things we are doing to support the mental health of our team:

  • We have two certified mental health first aiders that amongst other things have the knowledge to help someone recover by guiding them to further support - whether through self-help resources, internal support, or external sources such as their GP
  • We offer a free subscription to the mindfulness app, Calm
  • All line managers undergo specially designed mental health training and coaching in pastoral care. They are trained in spotting signs of stress and how to support colleagues with mental health conditions
  • We offer a supportive environment that encourages people to share with line managers any concerns or stresses that they face
  • We safeguard peoples’ time so stress levels stay low
  • We also continue to make further investments in benefits that will ensure our team thrive – including private healthcare cover
  • We provide an employee assistance programme to all employees, WeCare, which includes free 24/7 access to online GP and counselling services

I’m sure there is more we, and the industry at large, could do to ensure mental health and stress are treated effectively and in the same way as physical health. Afterall, focusing on mental health makes ethical as well as business sense – happy and healthy people will perform better.