The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is encouraging employees to digitally share green ribbons to show their support for ending the stigma around mental health in the workplace – in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week starting 18 May.
Through This is Me and the Green Ribbon Campaign, the Appeal wants to enable organisations to support their employee’s wellbeing.
The Green Ribbon
The Green Ribbons are used to display different ideas around mental health in the workplace. They create a visible movement of support for ending the stigma and show those struggling that there is support. By digitally wearing a green ribbon, you demonstrate the level of support for wellbeing within your workplace and encourage people to share their story to create inclusive workplace cultures.
The Green Ribbon campaign has been running for four years, and in 2019 the Appeal sold over 170,000 Green Ribbons. Years before, High profile buildings such as the Houses of Parliament had lit up green in order to show solidarity.
This year things are different. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the physical community that the Green Ribbon campaign usually builds is not possible. Mental health is still important, however, and so The Lord Mayor’s Appeal have created a virtual movement of support.
Spreading the word
The charity has created materials and assets that can help employees and colleagues spread the Green Ribbon message online. They are offering a range of digital assets this year to help raise awareness around mental health including origami green ribbons, mindful colouring sheets, social media cover photos, posts, email signatures, and digital signage.
Employees are encouraged to share their Green Ribbon profile picture with the hashtag #endthestigma and the location they are in (e.g. #endthestigmaCITY), as well as giving one, digitally, to a colleague or employee to share kindness and connect at during these difficult times. The idea is that by sharing a green ribbon anyone can show support and solidarity, no matter where they are.
The Lord Mayor Appeal’s hope is that the campaign will spread far and wide, as it has done years prior. The Appeal also hopes that going digital will increase its inclusivity, enabling colleagues from all over the country to participate.
The theme for 2020’s Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘kindness’ and the Appeal believes that showing support for a colleague is an act that anyone can do.
It’s an opportunity to come together, even at this time when we are apart. This Mental Health Awareness Week, let’s turn LinkedIn green to show our support.
