May was Mental Health Awareness Month, and in addition to Jeff Bentley’s Linkedin article, Holistic Approach to Mental Health, we are launching a credit-union-wide Happiness Project.
Mr. Bentley’s article cites statistics that indicate that mental disorders affect children as young as 7 years of age, and that at the current rate of recorded mental disorders, we may be looking at a workforce that is 25- 75% of employees diagnosed with a mental disorder.
The Happiness Project asks our employees to write what makes them happy that day or in general, using department whiteboards with the heading “What Made You Happy Today?” It can be as simple as “my coffee was perfect this morning!”, “my child gave me a very long hug.”, or “loving the weather this week!” Remote employees will email it to their onsite colleague for posting.
We believe that creating and nurturing a company mindset of happiness and gratitude will help reduce anxiety and stress and contribute to a happier workforce.
We encourage you to do the same. Think about what makes you happy as you start your day and share it with your colleagues.