Starting your early career can sometimes feel overwhelming. To mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re highlighting mental healtal at work. Wellbeing in the workplace can sometimes be overlooked, but it’s vital for all of us.
This year, the theme for Mental Health Week is “Action”: encouraging us all to take positive, practical steps towards better mental health – both for ourselves and for others.
LTSB is delighted to partner with Medigold Health, a leading provider of occupational health and wellbeing services to help employers manage health and safety at work.
Together, we are working to educate and empower young people around mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. We believe the right level of support can help people to navigate early career paths and even start contributing to corporate wellbeing in their own settings. To this end, Medigold have delivered some sessions to our young people delivered by Kath Wood, Lead Disability Training and Consultancy Specialist at Medigold Health. The workshops explored time and workload management, including identifying workload struggles and introducing strategies to help with managing stress at work. For those getting started in their careers, this support can be life-changing, because no one should have to sacrifice their mental health just to keep their job.
If you feel you are struggling at work, this doesn’t mean you are not good at your job. Perhaps you simply haven’t been given the right tools and techniques to help manage both time and workload.
Small changes can make a big difference:
• Prioritise your tasks. Not everything is high priority, so ask yourself: What is most important?
• Break work into manageable steps and don’t try and do it all at once.
• Set realistic boundaries around your time and energy. Not everything has to be done right now.
• Speak up early when work struggles arise.
Kath Wood of Medigold Health told us:
“We were delighted to work on this project as we recognise challenges many young people experience as they go through the major life transition from education to work and how this can impact mental wellbeing and confidence. We want to help people to recognise changes in their mental health, to feel able to reach out for help as well as take action themselves to boost their mental wellbeing.”
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a kitchen timer to break the workload down into intervals, that are typically 25 minutes each and separated by short breaks. Each interval is called a Pomodoro. The original technique has six steps:
1. Decide on a task.
2. Set the timer (typically for 25 minutes, you can also use your phone).
3. Work on the task.
4. Stop when the timer sounds. Take a short break (ideally 5–10 mins).
5. Go back to step 2 and repeat until you complete four Pomodoros.
6. After completing four Pomodoros, take a longer break (20 to 30 mins) instead of a short break. Then, return to step 2.
If you’re a young person struggling with your mental health, take a look at our additional resources page where you will be signposted to organisations able to support your wellbeing.
