Supporting Our People on World Mental Health Day 2020

“Mental health for all” is the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day and it comes at a time when awareness for this global issue is increasing.

Back in May the World Health Organisation's Mental Health department warned of a looming mental health crisis due to COVID-19, with victims experiencing “isolation”, “economic turmoil” and “uncertainty”. For us, continuing to support our employees, host communities and countries of operation with their mental health during this pandemic is a priority – and will continue to be so as we move beyond it.

However, creating an inclusive environment – where people feel safe to talk about their mental health - has always been of upmost importance to us. It plays a huge part in all our wellbeing, and as a global business it’s up to us to remove the social and cultural barriers which stop our people talking about how they’re feeling. Our Head of Human Resources – Corporate Function, Liz Douglas sums this up well:

We want to provide that helping hand - even a lifeline - whether that be talking to a familiar face or providing tools and guidance for recovery. It’s about building trust and starting the conversation.

One in four of us will suffer with a mental illness or neurological disorder at some point, with one in six people having experienced anxiety or depression in the past week. You can’t see poor mental health and those of us who suffer with it are often left feeling ashamed, lonely and not knowing where to seek help. That’s why World Mental Health Day, with its success in raising awareness of this invisible illness, has been an important day in our calendar for some time.

Members of our Brisbane team at our Grasstree mine raised awareness for suicide prevention through the “RU OK?” initiative.

Their passion for the cause is inspiring. Many of our Australian employees travel to Grasstree to work their rostered shifts and are away from their families for extended periods of time. They’re left isolated from their families and often see their mental health worsen as a consequence. That’s why they set out to encourage everyone at the operation to regularly and meaningfully ask, “Are you ok?” to their peers. This is just one example of where getting involved in mental health awareness has helped improve the lives of our people.

We set out our plans to combat poor mental health through our Global Mental Health Care Framework (GMHCF) last year. We impact the lives of people globally and we know just how important it is that our help and support is available to everyone, irrespective of their business unit or country of operation. Our GMHCF delivers that: bringing consistency to the way we provide mental health resources, policies and advice. Many of these initiatives have been fast-tracked amid COVID-19 and the subsequent WeCare framework.

The framework has five areas of focus:

Promote mental health awareness and remove any stigma
Support colleagues and encourage openness
Create and sustain a safe environment
Build and maintain a positive workplace

Helping to spark conversations between our employees creates the inclusive and safe environment everyone at Anglo American strives for. However, it’s not a substitute for professional support – and this is an important part of our GMHCF. Our ambition is to have 5% of our workforce trained as Mental Health First Aiders by the end of 2020. Their role will be to provide confidential support using the skills, knowledge and understanding of mental health they have developed through specialist training and to help someone recover their health by guiding them to further support - whether through self-help resources, internal support such as the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), or sign-posting to external professional medical sources.

Holding regular events and conversations with external experts to educate and raise awareness of mental health issues for everyone is a key part of our support strategy. We’ve also recently partnered with the Business Disability Forum to access the support we need as a business to continually evolve our knowledge and approach to mental health, including the sponsorship of a mental health toolkit for businesses. This has all culminated in us joining “The Valuable 500”, a worldwide movement to put disability inclusion on board agendas and encourage global business leaders to recognise the value of the world’s 1.3 billion people living with disabilities.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, our priority was to keep everyone whose lives we touch safe and healthy at all costs. Our response was global as we provided our employees, host communities and countries of operation with extensive support during, what is still, an extraordinary time. With many of our employees working remotely, providing mental health support was crucial to this support. Our WeCare programme encapsulated our response, with mental health one of the four key pillars of the framework. It sets out our responsibility to build on our existing mental health and wellbeing resources, and to make sure all our people can access the tools and reassurance to help cope with stress and uncertainty.

While the WeCare programme focused on advice during COVID-19, a full suite of our mental health resources is available internally on our Eureka! system. This is where we provide access to toolkits and videos which go beyond COVID-19 advice. There are also virtual support sessions on specific topics, helping our people spot when they’re feeling anxious and experiencing signs of mental ill-health.

We believe that everyone has a right to affordable and effective mental healthcare – so providing resources to those who don’t have access to Eureka! is also essential. We recently rolled-out our Engage App to all colleagues within our operations, meaning we can expand our mental health care offering to more of our people who need help. Ensuring accessibility is a vital part of our approach: mental health care cannot be just for those who can access online resources. It must be for everyone.

This year’s World Mental Health Day is more important than ever. Mental health awareness is under the spotlight and we must take this opportunity to maintain this momentum. The effect of this pandemic on all our mental health is unknown, so we must strengthen and develop our approach and provide solutions through this challenging time, with strategies to support our resilience as we return to a new sense of normality.

We will continue to learn and do what we can to foster an inclusive working environment for all, providing opportunities for our people to feel comfortable to share any concerns and access the support they need through various channels. Our WeCare programme and GMHCF and just the start. Then – and only then – can we all be our best selves.

As always, if you need help with your mental health – whether you are part of Anglo American or not - we encourage you to seek advice or to have a conversation with someone you trust.

TAGS:

World Mental Health Day 2020 at Anglo American