mental health awareness week

'We need to support one another as much as possible'




What constitutes mental health issues? When we talk about this, people will have their own opinion of what that involves — however, everyone is different and what affects one person may not be a trigger for another and vice versa.

The charity Mind classes good mental health as “being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and want to live your life.” This may sound vague, and while it will be very personal to you as an individual, it does provide a good starting point when trying to understand why people may feel like they do. 

The last few years have highlighted many areas that can cause triggers and real issues: remote working and loneliness, the lack of a real workstation, the feeling of not being able to do your job properly or even show this in a positive manner, the stress of helping clients deal with their problems, family challenges of home-schooling and looking after parents — the list is endless.

Even now, many people in the industry are still finding day-to-day work challenging. Last-minute lender rate changes and conveyancing issues to name a few make planning for both work and home life a logistical minefield.

As we all lead busy lives, making time to check on others can be hard. How many times have you got to Friday and the to-do list has not gone down as much as you like — being replaced by unforeseen tasks — and the calls you planned didn’t happen?  Sometimes, that call to a friend in or out of the industry for only 15 minutes can make such a difference to both parties.

One of the reasons why we at SimplyBiz Mortgages were keen to support and promote The Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC) was because of the plans to provide information and support for the industry. It is about highlighting the challenges that we all can face from time to time, that you are not alone, and that there is support and guidance for you. The potential solutions will be in most instances unique to you, but just knowing that other people have been through similar situations to you is very comforting to know. 

I would urge all firms to look at the MIMHC and sign up to help us help one another. We are a very social industry; it is a people business, and we need to support one another as much as possible. 

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