ROI on Mental Health: Retrospective
Challenging the notion of a “Return on Investment”, yesterday MANUP?’s event at King Street Cinema spotlighted the importance on investing in mental health provision. Conventionally an ROI focusses on what business investments are beneficial to profitability, growth and the overall success of an organisation. By using this concept and applying it to mental health, MANUP? sought to educate and encourage business leaders to rethink their approach to a healthy workforce and prioritise a support structure inclusive of mental health.
To bring this to life, MANUP? invited 5 speakers to share their experiences of and approaches to bringing mental health provision successfully into an organisation. These were Dan Cocksedge (Seven Resourcing), Ian Millar (Crafted), Rosie Leach (Briggs Equipment), Doug Betts (Fred Olsen Ltd) and Harold Floyd (Elite Force Safety). This was of course in addition to introductions from Dan Somers, and hosting from Phil McEwan and Steve Rooke all from the MANUP? team.
As well as this MANUP? very kindly asked me to recreate the ‘Creating Masculinity’ exhibition at the venue. Originally a collaboration with Suffolk Archives the works piece together a history of masculinity alongside artistic responses to masculine notions of the past, present and future. It was a simple way of bringing the worlds of mental health, business and creativity together, a unique fusion that allows for greater inclusivity and further dialogue.
Overall, this event provided many thought provoking moments, honest experiences and actionable steps for business leaders to take back into their workplaces. Although the focus was placed upon what organisations can do to prioritise mental health provision and why it is important to do so, matters of the mind always travel beyond one fixed margin. All the points raised during this event can be taken from the workplace and applied to any individual’s personal life. The more we acknowledge mental health and the more we encourage action based upon education, the more intuitively it becomes ingrained in our everyday lives. Any opportunity we can take to directly support that growth is an opportunity to create long-lasting positive change in our own lives and the lives of others.
