Meet Liz Prince

Summary

As restrictions continue to ease and we look forward to a return to more of the things we love, it may feel like the worst is over. Experts however are warning of a mental health pandemic, the longer lasting outcome of our experience of COVID-19 and it’s easy to understand why. Our mental health has never faced the pressure and strain it has in the last year and while there have been some really inspirational moves from employers to support the mental health of their teams during the pandemic, we’re now facing longer term stresses that we have to prepare for. Making time to talk has never been more important. The time to embrace those impactful, courageous and difficult conversations is now, to safeguard the wellbeing of our people in the future. - Make time to talk:  Take time to discuss the pressures peers and teams are facing. People need to be listened to, no matter how hard it can be to hear it - Focus on humility: Use good role models in senior positions who are able to talk about mental wellbeing with a sense of vulnerability and humility. Opening up a conversation that encourages people to talk – including sharing personal experiences from managers – will be crucial in helping staff cope in the modern world - Get your people involved: Empower staff to take action themselves. Maybe look at appointing some Mental Health Ambassadors who are accessible to anyone looking to talk about their struggles in and out of work - Train your managers to have empowering conversations: Managers are facing a new challenge themselves. Providing training to help them have impactful discussions delivered with confidence and compassion can help tackle the mental health pandemic. Have trained mental wellness ambassadors work with managers regularly to develop this skill - Take a global viewpoint with a regional approach: Be considerate about the fact that there are regional differences in terms of pandemic restrictions, so the mental health support needed will vary across geographies. Approaches to how mental health is talked about and normalised needs to be adapted across demographics and cultures as well, so avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach If you need to talk, please reach out. In the games industry we have the brilliant Safe In Our World https://safeinourworld.org mental health initiative, which can provide resources and help.