Since 1949, the United States has dedicated May as the official month for Mental Health Awareness. Over the past two years, mental health has become a more important discussion that we all are discussing. It’s also made us here at cred stop and take a look at what we and our clients are doing to help take care of our mental health. 

How we’re discussing mental health at cred. 
Over the past two years, cred has had honest conversations with the entire company advocating for everyone to take the time we need to help us cope with the past two years. Along with holding these honest conversations, our team has implemented a couple of other events to help us recharge and focus and take time for ourselves. Here are some of our favorites:

• Wellness Week: An annual week long event where credians take time during our days to focus on both our mental and physical health. Highlights have included fitness classes run by our CEO and guided meditation by one of our clients, Wellness Coach. 

• Summer Fridays: A long-standing summer tradition in many offices across the country, cred is joining them in offering employees Summer Fridays. Starting this June, our office will be open for half days every Friday. The only requirement—you have to do something you enjoy after working your half day!

• Mental health days: Since March of 2020, the cred team has had one day each month where our virtual office closes down for a day. These days allow us to shut down our computers and take some time to focus on our wellbeing. 

Clients who are speaking about Mental Health.
One of the biggest trends we’ve seen in the event industry, aside from the explosion of virtual event platforms, is the inclusion of more wellness topics on agendas. It seems that with every conference, no matter if it’s tech, leadership, or even marketing, everyone is now willing to discuss how mental health and wellness affects both their personal and professional lives and work. Here are a couple of clients who are speaking about mental health in the workplace: 

Wellness Coach: A digital wellness platform providing tools for mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing, Wellness Coach is aiming to change the way employees and employers discuss wellness in the workplace. Watch Wellness Coach Founders, D and Julie Sharma’s talk on the Stand Up 2 Sitting podcast.  

• You may have also seen them discussing employee wellness at WORKTECH and the National Wellness Institute.

Muse headbands: Developed by the Canadian tech company InteraXon, Muse headbands are the first widely-available brain-sensing headbands that measure brain activity, heart rate, breathing, and body movements to help you build a consistent meditation practice. Watch Founder Ariel Garten’s TED Talk. 

Mental Health videos to watch and podcasts to listen to:  
From apps like Calm and Longwalks, there are tons in the Apple App Store that are focused on promoting and enhancing your physical and mental wellbeing. However, sometimes you just need to hear from someone else on how they are tackling these issues. Here are a couple of our favorites: 

• There’s No Shame In Taking Care Of your Mental Health: When we think about mental health, some of us might fall into the trap of, “some people have it off worse, so I should be able to deal.” This is how TED Fellow Sangu Delle felt. In his 8-minute talk, Sangu discusses how he handles dealing with anxiety in today’s society. 

• Therapy for Black Girls: A weekly podcast hosted by Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, Therapy for Black Girls provides mental health resources and advice for both personal and professional development for African American women and others. 

• The Happiness Lab: Hosted by  Dr. Laurie Santos of Yale University, this bi-weekly podcast aims to show you how you can control your own happiness through some of the smallest ways. 

• The Overwhelmed Brain: With more than 300 episodes, and going strong, host Paul Colaianni provides strategies for decreasing stress and anxiety, promoting wellbeing, and how to have fulfilling lifelong relationships.