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Q&A with Grant, Global Highland's MD, for World Mental Health Day

With the goal of promoting better mental health for everyone, World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually on October 10th. To increase awareness of this issue among our colleagues, clients, and candidates, we recently spoke to Global Highland’s Managing Director, Grant Falconer, who commented on what mental health means to him, the business, and how to cope with emotional struggles. Here is what he said to say:

What does mental health mean to you?

"Mental health means, personally, a lot to me, it is something that I am very open about, something I speak about a lot – something I encourage people to speak about. It's come a long way in recent years. The stigma is still there, but a lot of work has been done to encourage people to be more open about it.

Mental health as opposed to physical health, is as important, if not more important. It is invisible and we can't always see when people are struggling with mental health, so we need to try and encourage people to be open and speak about it as much as they can. But we are on the right tracks, and we’re continuing to get to a place where people do feel more encouraged to be open about mental health."

What does your business do to support mental health?

"We try and create an environment where our staff feel encouraged to speak about any low moments and any mental health issues they are having. That environment is created by leading by example, by me being open with my team, speaking about mental health struggles that I may have had.

For example, during COVID I worked from home and I felt very low, so I tried to put some coping mechanisms in to try and get through that low moment… Being able to speak openly with my team about my own personal struggles encourages them to speak openly about the issues that they might be having.

We also have a People and Culture team, which we work alongside. [The team] supports us in offering guidance and support to get through mental health struggles, and get our staff and team members who are struggling to come through the other side of it. There is a lot of support mechanisms within our businesses that can identify and encourage and support people that go through mental health issues."

What have you got to say about your Mental Health First Aiders?

"We have a number of Mental Health First Aiders within our business who are all qualified and trained on delivering mental health first aid. Every staff member is aware on who are mental health first aiders are, and everyone is encouraged to speak to the Mental Health First Aiders if they are going through periods of low moments and struggling with their mental health. These conversations are in confidence and our Mental Health First Aiders will offer support and guidance to hopefully allow our staff members to get through these periods in their life."

Do you have any coping mechanisms for dealing with mental health issues?

"I do, for me I managed to identify what coping mechanisms work best for me when I was going through periods of poor mental health. I mainly identified these during COVID. During COVID and lockdown I struggled a bit because I was working from home, so I was fairly low – as I imagine a lot of people were during that time.

I tried to do as much as I could to try and make sure that my mental health was in a much better place. Exercising, eating well and having a routine, when I did all of those 3 things my mental health was in a positive mindset. So I would encourage anybody that is struggling with mental health to try and exercise. Anything as little as going for a walk and just getting some steps in and some fresh air into your lungs. And have a look at your diet, are you eating healthy. And for me, routine , just doing certain things at certain times of the day, allows me to have a positive mental health.

So I would encourage anyone that is struggling, to try and get some coping mechanisms like exercise and diet. There could be other things as well like socialising and seeing people. Out with coping mechanisms, I would also encourage people to seek guidance from a doctor, because mental health can be medicated as well.”