In October we unveiled our SANE Black Dog statue, to celebrate Deloitte's commitment and ongoing campaign to support staff mental health and wellbeing.
We are working with the charity SANE to help reduce stigma around mental health and to encourage our staff to come forward to tame their 'Black Dog'. One in four people will be affected by a mental health issue. It is clear from our people at Deloitte that many of our best and brightest could at some point in their career suffer.
We currently have a SANE Black Dog in the reception area for all our people and visitors to see. Nomi the dog is part of an on-going programme we have created to make mental health in the workplace something staff can discuss openly, and get help for.
SANE launched its nationwide Black Dog Campaign in 2011. It seeks to normalise mental illnesses such as depression, so it is viewed in the same way a physical condition would be. The Black Dog statues aim to help people define their experience of this 'invisible' condition, as well as promoting more open discussion, understanding and acceptance.
Staff at Deloitte have known about the arrival of the 'Black Dog' for some time now, and have been encouraged to get involved with naming it and designing a coat for it. We want all staff involved as it helps raise awareness across the firm that mental health can become a serious issue. I suffered from depression, which I didn't want to talk about or deal with until it got too much, and so took time off for over 2 months.
I was pleasantly surprised when my Managing Partner spoke to me, and helped me return to work, when I felt ready to do so. This inspired me to set up the Mental Health Champions, which is a group of Partners at the firm who have been trained to have a confidential conversation with any employee who feels like they might have a mental health issue. By tackling these issues head on and speaking out about them, there might be someone who can help you deal with the issue before it gets out of control, and affects your life even more.
At the launch event, SANE also introduced a new way to involve
people in its Black Dog Campaign
– Send a Text
Save a Life. The aim is to help people to recognise the
basic signs of a mental health problem so they are able to help a
friend or colleague if they experience any of these. If they
see any warning signs, they are encouraged to send a text message
of support and encouragement before problems escalate, or signpost
them to further sources of help.
Commenting on SANE's Black Dog campaign partnership with Deloitte and Send a Text Save a Life, Marjorie Wallace, SANE's CEO said: "SANE's Black Dog campaign is taking strides with improving mental health awareness, not only in public but in the workplace. We now have eight handsome fellows with dazzling coats in prominent places for everyone to see: Horace, Homer, Hugo, Harry, Kalman, Elvis, Salty Dog and now Nomi. Everyone knows somebody who they think is feeling low and possibly worse, but we're all nervous of treading on egg shells and don't quite know how to express concern. Send a Text Save a Life gives an easy way to show that concern which could make a huge difference to people in daily life.
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