Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 - University of Sheffield Mental Health Champion

University of Sheffield Mental Health Champion - Lisa Hollands

Lisa Hollands takes on additional roles as a Mental Health Champion at the University. For Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, Lisa put together a display board with information and links to places that University of Sheffield community can get help. She shared the following:

“Speaking to someone when you are struggling can really help. You can speak to friends and family or someone a bit more independent like a mental health peer supporter, first aider, wellbeing advisor or calling one of the fantastic helplines out there

“Ultimately you may find that speaking to your GP is needed… they are there to support you rather than judging. You can also self refer for NHS talking therapies in most places.

“There is no shame in asking for help and support - please speak to someone if you are struggling”

We spoke to Lisa to discuss technicians’ and technical managers’ roles in the context of team mental health, and asked her the following:

How can technicians support mental health within their teams in technical services?

“One of the many qualities of an excellent technician is the desire to help and be useful, which makes us suited to providing mental health support to others. Working in an academic environment, we interact on a daily basis with students, researchers, academics and of course other technicians and support staff so are well placed for this kind of support role.

“In my department we have a group of fully trained mental health first aiders (of which a large proportion are technical staff) who are there to champion and help anyone who needs mental health support (and of course each other); this is fully supported by our Departmental Executive Committee who sees this as an essential service. For Mental Health Awareness week our mental health first aider team has put together a display board in our shared area to show people where they can get support in addition to having a mental health first aider drop in and of course a craft lunch so that members of the department can find out more.”

See Lisa’s tweets here: