For many years, poor mental health has been stigmatised, treated as a weakness and considered by many as far less important than poor physical health. Nowadays, the subject of mental health is much better understood and less of a taboo. Around the world the stigma is lifting.

Employers need to understand the long-term impacts of poor mental health on their employees and be proactive in offering effective solutions to help care for their people’s mental wellbeing. 

This all-important subject was discussed at length at AXA’s Health Days event on 11 October (the day after World Mental Health Day). And we were heavily involved in the event, taking part in three sessions. If you missed the fascinating insights from our panel of experts, don’t worry… you can catch up below.

Dr Leena Johns, Head of Health and Wellness at MAXIS GBN was joined Andrew Davies, CEO, and Wiebke Welgemoed, COO, from our wellness partner ICAS World, for the first session: “Tackling the mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis.”

The talk covered:

• why mental health has been at the forefront of our minds throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
• how employers have started to recognise the importance of caring for their employees’ mental wellbeing
• what solutions multinationals can provide for their employees
• how the pandemic helped push mental health up the agenda.

 

Dr Leena, Andrew and Wiebke also hosted the session “De-stigmatisation of mental health.” They discussed:

• how poor mental health is one of the most neglected health problems around the world and, unfortunately, often stigmatised and discriminated against
• why mental health has become less stigmatised in recent years
• how employers can help de-stigmatise the issue of mental health for their workforces.

And that wasn’t all! Mattieu Rouot, CEO at MAXIS GBN, spoke on the video: “Mental health: how can global corporates tackle this invisible epidemic?”. He covered:

• how multinationals can care for employees, even in the most stressful of times
• what wellness solutions employers can look to implement to help tackle mental health problems in their workplace
• how a global programme can help finance mental health services.

 
It was a fascinating day – thanks to everyone involved in making the event happen.