Read: Mental Health Matters

There’s a feeling of new starts around this time of year. It’s back to school for children and their teachers, young people head off to university and away from home, often for the first time, and people return to their workplaces after summer breaks. These may have been restricted this year, but the first Monday of September still saw the busiest morning on the London Tube since the first national lockdown.  

While a feeling of normality is encouraging, it will also bring new feelings of anxiety and stress for many people. Pupils will worry about the time they have already missed out of education and the effect that might have on their performance at school. Students are concerned about learning online and the impact that has on their undergraduate experience. Employees are anxious about returning to the office or about the pressures of continuing to work remotely. Many people who experienced poor mental health during the pandemic are still dealing with the repercussions of that.

The importance of addressing these issues is key to the levelling up agenda. It’s well-known that our more disadvantaged communities experience more physical and mental health problems. In March this year, the Government responded with a mental health recovery plan backed by £500 million of funding and aimed at those groups who were most impacted by the pandemic, including those with severe mental illness, young people and frontline staff.

In my work with the Purpose Coalition, I’ve seen a lot of positive evidence of the steps that businesses, universities and other organisations are taking to address mental health issues and increase resilience in their employees and students. BP, for example, has improved its management of health data points and ‎sources to identify ‘hot spots’, targeting preventive interventions for employees who may be facing challenges.‎ The University of Bolton, in one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic, expanded its support services to include mental health and wellbeing advisers, counsellors and CBT services, also working with their career services and external stakeholders to support students with mental health problems entering the jobs market after university.

In 2020 Mental Health First Aid England reported that one in six workers will experience depression, anxiety or stress-related problems at any one time. More recent research by LinkedIn found that 65% of employees said their employer’s attitude to mental health really mattered to them. Sixty-one per cent think it’s become more important since the pandemic for employers to support their mental health through access to counselling and wellbeing services, a healthy work-life balance and a culture where it feels normal to speak up about mental health issues.

Ensuring that students and employees can thrive and contribute effectively to their workplaces is not only the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. The Purpose Coalition identified good health and wellbeing as one of 14 Levelling Up Goals, improving physical and mental health at all ages to boost overall wellbeing and allow people to fulfil their potential. It is crucial that we continue to address these inequalities so that we can build back better and help those furthest away from opportunity.

Seema Kennedy OBE, Levelling Up Goals Co-Chair; former Minister for Public Health, Home Office Minister, and the Prime Minister's Parliamentary Private Secretary