12 Irish employers make commitment to challenging stigma in the workplace 

Tomorrow, 1^st May, 2015 marks the start of See Change’s month long annual Green Ribbon campaign to get Ireland talking openly about mental health.  Kick-starting the campaign Adroll, Accenture, Deloitte, Ibec, Mercer and State Street are among 12 organisations officially pledging to make open discussion of mental health an organisational priority and challenge the stigma, discrimination and silence that often follows mental health problems in the workplace:

• Accenture,
• Adroll,
• Ballymun Regional Youth Resource,
• Bloomfield Hospital,
• Core Media,
• Cornmarket Financial Services,
• Deloitte,
• Mercer,
• Shine,
• State Street,
• Valeo Vision Systems

The See Change in your Workplace pledge programme offers a 6-step roadmap for organisations to creating an open culture around mental health for managers and employees to support the mental health needs of all staff. It approaches all aspects of working life –recognising that every one in the organisation has a role to play in challenging stigma.The key processes in creating this change are:

• training workshops and policy overhaul at managerial level,
• awareness and in-house promotion for staff through internal champions and committees
• stakeholder engagement and thought leadership on the subject of mental health and the workplace.

For more information and  resources  for managers and employers, see seechange.ie/workplace

Launching the pledge programme, RTE’s Eileen Dunne said “The organisations making the See Change in your workplace pledge this morning represent a real sea change in Irish business. These organisations are showing that they are committed to creating an open culture around mental health for managers and employees.”

Recognising the importance of mental health in the workplace, Ibec has been collaborating with See Change on mental health in the workplace since the campaigns inception in 2010. Speaking at the launch of the workplace pledge, Mary Rose Burke, Director of Business Representation, Ibec said “Mental health remains an area that many people do not understand or may fear, and as a result, it is not talked about. Initiatives such as the green ribbon and the Six Step Pledge encourage essential conversations around mental health. Ibec are proud to be involved and welcome the commitment employers are making to supporting our collective mental health.”

Kate MacGuinness, Learning Business Partner, Accenture said “In the year since our initial participation in the Green Ribbon Campaign we have continued to develop our ongoing Mental Health Awareness campaign for staff.  Over the last year we facilitated a hugely successful programme that included a number of events including one with guest speaker, Niall Breslin, aka ‘Bressie’. See Change have partnered closely with us to deliver workshops to our Manager population, offering best practice guidance as well as presenting at various internal and community events. In addition we celebrated World Mental Health Day in October and have held a number of local and global webinars to support the mental wellbeing of our staff. We look forward to this year’s Green Ribbon Campaign and associated activities.”

The See Change in your Workplace pledge programme is funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention and brought to you in collaboration with the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission, Ibec, St John of God Hospital, Suicide or Survive and Insight Matters.