Member Article

Research agency aiming to raise mental health awareness

Kicking off Mental Health Awareness Week in style, a team of 15 runners from Join the Dots completed the Manchester 10k yesterday, raising over £2200 for Mind, the mental health charity. “It was a great day, with half the team completing the run in under 45 minutes. The donations we received from friends, family, colleagues and clients were hugely appreciated and spurred each of us on across the line”, commented Quentin Ashby, Managing Director at Join the Dots.

The Manchester 10k is an apt start to Mental Health Awareness Week, 11-17th May, a week dedicated to highlighting the impact of mental health problems, both on individuals and society. This year the Mental Health Foundation is focusing on mindfulness, a technique which can be used to help reduce symptoms of stress and maintain mental balance. Manchester-based research agency Join the Dots is encouraging its staff to share stress-busting techniques during this week of mindfulness.

Join the Dots selected Mind as their charity of the year back in January, after numerous colleagues put forward compelling reasons to support this cause. Every year, one in four of us will experience a mental health problem, but hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling. Mind believe that “no-one should have to face a mental health problem alone”, a testament that the people at Join the Dots are keen to support.

Co-founder and Chair of the Board, Trish Comley, leads the charge for corporate social responsibility at Join the Dots. She commented, “It’s brilliant to see so many people at Join the Dots come together over such a worthy cause and we’re trying to create an environment where people feel able to open up about personal experiences with mental health issues. Through our activities this year, we’re hoping to help address the stigma attached to mental health as well as aiming to raise money, since we believe talking about it is half the battle with this kind of illness. When the year ends and we choose a new charity to support, I strongly believe we’ll all continue to be open about stress at work, or in our personal lives, and support each other throughout.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kate Rhodes .