Between school closures, border restrictions, financial pressures and the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming school year, it’s not surprising that guard.me experienced a significant increase in demand for the mental wellness support services we provide to thousands of students around the globe. However, young people are far from the only ones affected.

“There has never been a better time to focus on mental wellness at work”

Whether still working remotely or facing the challenges of maintaining normal operations during a pandemic, you and your team members are likely struggling with productivity, stress, and anxiety as so much of life – both home and work – is filled with uncertainty.

Christina Furtado, a mental health professional offering her expertise as part of the guard.meCARES platform, reports that the number one concern her team is seeing right now in adults is the struggle to establish new routines and learn new roles.

“There is always change and uncertainty in life,” she says.

“But during this time, plans keep changing and managing disappointment and moving forward can be stressful and seem like an insurmountable struggle.

“The domino effect of that distress can be contagious. Our guard.meCARES Wellness and Learning Initiatives Program addresses the issues and helps people by providing simple and effective tools to take care of their mental health and become resilient in this new normal.”

How can you help your employees during these extraordinary times?

Start by testing your own mental health knowledge with this short quiz. Next, Christina recommends you focus on giving employees the tools to take care of themselves and recognising the signs that they (or you) may need extra mental health support.

To make it easy for you to support your staff right now, we’ve made a number of our mental wellness webinars available online to everyone – whether you’re a guard.me partner or not.

Christina and her team developed these virtual sessions – which can be accessed online from anywhere, at any time – on a range of timely topics including resiliency, self-care, financial stress, returning to work, and parenting during a pandemic.

For a more personalised learning experience, guard.me can also develop and deliver webinars for any business or organisation, customised to address the specific mental wellness issues and concerns that are most important to you.

Christina is also a certified instructor for industry-leading mental wellness courses and can deliver Mental Health First Aid and safeTALK training to you and your staff.

There has never been a better time to focus on mental wellness at work. Investing in education and training not only enhances employee health and productivity; it gives your team the tools to recognise and assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis – tools that are more important now than ever.

Mental health professional Christina Furtado has been working with Guard.Me to offer expertise as part of its guard.meCARES platform.