The Work Couch: Mental health at work (Part 1): Turning despair into hope, with Jonny Benjamin MBE

Welcome to The Work Couch, the podcast series where we explore how your business can navigate today's tricky people challenges and respond to key developments in the ever-evolving world of employment law.

Trigger warning: The following page deals with themes around mental health, including suicide, severe mental health conditions and mental health in the workplace.

To mark Mental health awareness week this month, we are devoting a four-part mini-series to mental health at work. In part 1, Ellie Gelder is joined by Jonny Benjamin MBE, whose incredible story touched many people all around the world when his search to find the stranger, who talked him down from taking his life on Waterloo Bridge, went viral with the hashtag #findMike. 

We discuss: 

• Jonny's experience of mental illness;
• How a stranger on a bridge changed his life forever; 
• Jonny's work to champion mental health, especially among young people; 
• The importance of support for relatives;
• The power of listening without judgment; and
• How colleagues can effectively support someone at work who is struggling with their mental health.
  

To access further support on mental health, you may wish to visit: the Samaritans, Mind, or Rethink. Or you can use the text service from Shout on 85258

We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release.

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording.  

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.