Supporting mental health and wellbeing through corporate events

The past year has been challenging for many of us, across the world everyone has been affected by a lifestyle change due to the pandemic which has only highlighted to us all how important our mental health is.

For many of us, work is a major part of our lives, it is where we spend much of our time, where we get our income, and often where we make friends for life. Having a fulfilling job and positive work environment can be a key part of ensuring we have good mental health and general wellbeing but how do you as an employer support your team and value mental health and wellbeing as a core asset of your organisation?

Mental health and wellbeing

Events and Experiences play a huge part in promoting mental health and wellbeing at work whilst also ensuring that your everyday working culture is as mentally healthy as possible. Therefore it is vital that as an employer you make tools, exercises, and techniques accessible to your colleagues. Throughout the pandemic, First Event has run over 100 virtual events that have put employee mental health and wellbeing at forefront of the event specification and, in light of ‘Mental Health Awareness Week,’ we’ve pulled together some of our top tips on how to incorporate mental health and wellbeing into virtual and hybrid corporate events.

Downtime

Health and wellbeing has been a trending topic for years however 2020 became the year that many businesses focused on making it an employee priority in the day-to-day work-life balance due to the lack of human connection we all faced because of the pandemic.

Integrating downtime into your virtual event can invigorate your attendees, improve their cognitive performance and boost mood. Creating a wellness hub where your attendees can break off and take part in guided meditations, yoga, or other mindfulness techniques can create balance and add value to your event and your brand, whilst ensuring your delegates are engaged and focused.

Wellbeing boxes

The majority of us have spent the best part of the year at home and seeing a delivery driver bring a parcel to your door has become the highlight of our day, many businesses have wanted to show they value every employee whilst wanting a way to show appreciation whilst the workforce were fully remote and have sent wellbeing boxes ahead of corporate virtual meetings and team building events.

A wellbeing box can be completely tailored to your brand, values and delivered straight to your employee’s door. Wellbeing boxes can be a great way to remind employees to take care of themselves in between back-to-back video calls, daily distractions, and the ongoing juggling act of balancing work and home life whilst also feeling appreciated by their employer.

Talk the talk

Research by Mind shows that a culture of fear and silence around mental health is costly to employers and it is often difficult to know where to start the conversation, including a keynote speaker that specialises in delivering mental health and wellbeing talks in your event may be the solution to encourage conversations in your workplace.

Breakout sessions and talks covering topics such as managing stress in the workplace, learning how to switch off, and preventing burnout can beneficial in fostering a positive mental health culture and promoting an open environment in the workplace.

How we can help

Whether its live, hybrid, or virtual - First Event can work with you to deliver an event that meets your specific mental health and wellness goals within your organisation, contact us here for more information.