The theme of this week’s Mental Health Awareness week is kindness. We’re pretty open about mental health at Gardner Leader: we recognise it’s relevant to us all and kindness is something we try to show our colleagues as much as possible, both in the way we work with one another and the way we behave towards one another.
Along with Niamh Minihane, I am one of two Mental Health Champions charged with keeping the dialogue going about mental health and being an ear or shoulder for those across the firm in need. We share tips and resources as well as our own experiences and feelings and we encourage others to do so. A number of people including leaders across the firm have shared their personal experiences with colleagues.
At Gardner Leader we value each other and work together as one team because we believe that working well for our clients relies on working well together. In true GL style there have been a variety of activities to bring us together in lockdown including quizzes and virtual Friday drinks, and Managing Partner Derek Rodgers has shared an update video weekly to keep everyone up to speed.
At the beginning of lockdown, our HR Director Lynn Digby sent us all some sunflower seeds to plant and last week Lynn sent a shortbread mix for us to make (which went down very well in my house). Over the last few weeks we also ran a photography competition and this week we are marking Mental Health Awareness week by sharing some of the photos entered. Here are a selection of our nature themed entries. This category had by far the most entries, perhaps because making the most of the great outdoors has been so important to so many of us. Many of the photos were taken on runs, walks and bike rides as people made the most of getting out of the house for daily exercise.
This week, Stuart Durrant has launched a virtual 10Km – and runners, including both new ones and slow ones like me, will share a screen shot of our tracked run before the end of the month as a way of sharing an activity and remaining connected with one another. I’ll enjoy taking part but thank goodness the run isn’t a competition as I wouldn’t have been in with a chance!
We’ve been working differently of late, and have been able to help each other as well as our clients by nurturing connections and finding ways to share experiences and feelings. Keeping in touch is a kindness we can all take part in and one we’ve worked hard at. We’re also reaching out to clients and contacts to stay connected through our Virtual Coffee Initiative for PCUK.
Photos for this image were taken and provided by the following colleagues at Gardner Leader:
Amrit Mudhar – Robin
Helena Taylor – Evening walk
Deirdre Smith – Sunrise near Mapledurham
Sam Pinder – Hampstead Heath
Julie Taylor – Woodland sunlight
Debbie Turner – Over the water reflection
Diane Yarrow – Saturday walk
Dawn Inglut – Meadow
Cate Beavis – Over the water