One of Castor’s core values is ‘Achieve anything with a Healthy & Happy Team,’ and we want to live & work by it truly. With this in mind, we continuously promote a positive and non-judgemental working environment and support all Castorians in their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
May marked Mental Health Awareness Month. This provides the opportunity to reflect and develop the conversation about well-being at work and mental health in general.
No doubt, the past 1.5 years have been challenging for everyone, not only considering physical health but also mental health. A global pandemic, the switch to full-time remote work, social isolation, and the unpredictability of life challenged us to look deeply into how we could further support the well-being of Castorians.
With this in mind, Castor created several initiatives, which were launched during Mental Health Awareness Month. We want to share some of them with you.
1. Well-being Handbook.
As a part of our Employee Playbook, we’ve created a Well-being Handbook, accessible for all Castorians in our internal resources. The goal of the Handbook was to make all employees:
- Remain informed on what opportunities Castor provides to support well-being (among them there are such activities as attending a Sleeping Course, Deep Work Training, Calm App subscription, and the possibility to have one-to-one coaching with a therapist/company coach);
- Feel comfortable to talk about their mental health challenges experienced at work & in life, especially highlighted by the pandemic and remote state of working;
- Educate, de-stigmatize, and encourage discussion about mental health at Castor;
- Learn “go-to” strategies on how to ask for help and support others
2. Downtime week
Downtime week is not something we implemented just for Mental Health Awareness Month, but a common practice we do quarterly for all Castorians worldwide. During this week, we encourage everyone to cancel scheduled internal meetings, check-ins, etc. This helps to focus on Deep Work and strategic projects, and more importantly, to get some headspace.
3. Mental Health Awareness Workshop
The first step in a constant journey towards mental health is raising awareness. Castorians had an opportunity to participate in the workshop, led by Matthew Holman, which focused on how we can promote positive mental health habits and support each other. We discussed the difference between mental health and mental illness and how to manage stress levels to maintain a healthy lifestyle while working in a fast-paced and remote-first environment.
4. Mental Health First Aiders Support Group
Moving forward, several Castorians volunteered to participate in an advanced 2-day training program on becoming a Mental Health First Aider in the workplace. Each participant will become a go-to person for anyone who is going through some form of mental health issues or looking for support.
In addition, we’ve launched a slack channel to constantly share tips on promoting positive mental health habits, called #well-being_boost, to which each Castorian can contribute their own best practices or share the valuable resources they like.