How Leith is Celebrating World Mental Health Day

Today is World Mental Health Day, and this year’s theme is “make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority”. With recent global events, there is more importance than ever for self care and collective togetherness to help improve mental health.

Over the past several years, we’ve seen prominent figures come out to publicly address their mental health. Simone Biles, a four time Olympic Gold medalist who withdrew from the women’s 2021 gymnastic final to focus on her mental Health and Sam Fender, a musician who recently announced he was taking a break from touring due to wellbeing reasons, are just a few.

It’s not just globally recognised individuals who are discussing their own mental health. We’ve seen a growing number of organisations, across various industries and regions, prioritising employee’s wellbeing, especially since COVID-19.

And Leith is no exception.

We’ve invested in making mental health a priority within the agencies through our very first group of Mental Health First Aiders.

The First Aiders are a volunteer group of Leithers who have gone through the necessary training to provide initial support to anyone experiencing a decline in their mental health until professional help becomes available, or until the situation is resolved. Our First Aiders aim to support fellow employees and also come up with more ways that we as an agency can improve our mental health.

Over the years we’ve been using our creative powers for good by developing mental health campaigns aimed at raising awareness around the importance of looking after our mind, and helping people feel less isolated and more connected with the world.

A Mindful Little Christmas

This campaign led us to re-engineer a Christmas song.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The festive period is commonly described as the season of joy and togetherness, but this isn’t the case for some people. One in four individuals suffer from anxiety or depression at Christmas, and listening to Christmas music can cause even further distress. Research shows that songs with a 432Hz frequency can have a positive affect on mental health.

In partnership with Nordoff Robbins, the UK’s music therapy charity, we took a traditional festive tune, remixed it to include real interviews with psychiatrists and patients set at a 432Hz frequency. You can have a listen here.

Clear Your Head - Scottish Government

Back in the days of lockdown, issues with mental health sky-rocketed, and calls to helplines were at an all time high. People urgently needed more support, so we acted fast and in two-weeks, we created a campaign with the Scottish Government to help those struggling.

We developed supportive and practical tips to help people who were feeling down, and this was promoted through TV, radio, digital, partnerships and PR.

Plus, we created a whole new website to store all the advice and resources in one place.

BrainTalk - Lundbeck

Those suffering with poor mental health often struggle to speak up about it, and can feel quite isolated with no one to turn to. It can also be difficult to find reliable and helpful resources. This led us to create BrainTalk with Lundbeck - a unified global platform to help tackle depression on a local level.

These are just some examples of the work we’ve done to support those struggling with mental health.

The increase in organisations and public-figures speaking out about and prioritising mental health and wellbeing has resulted in the focus of mental health, such as with World Mental Health Day, transitioning from a taboo topic to a prominent reality across personal and business lives.

As lives get busier and times tougher, it is important to continue advocating the role that businesses play in promoting, and sustaining, good mental health for employees.

Get in touch to talk about what else we are doing for our employees, or how we can help your brand in addressing mental health.