Billie Celebrates Mental Health Week to Raise Awareness
It has never been more important to pay attention to mental health at the workplace. October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and just like last year, Billie took this day as an occasion to dedicate an entire week to mental health. With various talks and workshops — by internal and external experts — the aim was to increase awareness toward this important matter, destigmatize mental health at work and provide practical resources for guidance.
Mental Health in the Workplace
An entire week was dedicated to mental health in the workplace in order to create awareness and provide practical resources for everyone at Billie.
“Especially with the current political events, we felt it was important to address our mental health again this year. For Billie, it's important that our employees are healthy, and that applies both physically and mentally.” - Aiga Senftleben, Co-founder at Billie
On Tuesday morning, Dr. Ninja Senf-Oppermann, Consultant, Business Coach and Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher, gave an introduction to meditation with a 15-minute exercise that was aiming to help everyone have a mindful start to the day. During our lunch break, Anne Fehre, our Head of Customer Experience, invited everyone to join her for a stroll to enjoy the sunny autumn weather. Wednesday was kicked off with meditation guided by our Co-Founder Aiga Senftleben, who also gives a weekly yoga class at Billie all year around. This was followed by a very personal TED-Talk titled “Choose your mistakes'', where our VP Engineering Ahmed Gaber opened up about his experience with stress at the workplace and gave useful tips on how to cope with it.
In another meditation session on Thursday, Dr. Ninja Senf-Oppermann gave some more practical advice on how to implement meditation and mindfulness in our day-to-day, which was followed by a longer meditation practice. Later that day, Anja Stadeler, our VP People, and Sophie Grieger, our Junior Strategic People Projects Specialist, held a drop-in session on mental health at Billie. Here, we talked about what support Billie currently offers to improve people’s mental health, and we opened up the conversation to ask people what they would like to see in the future.
Throughout the week, people shared advice on how to cope with stress and anxiety on a designated Slack channel: mushroom picking, physical exercise like cycling or running, or baking sourdough bread were some of the tips that were shared. But also books, podcasts, or meditation apps which helped through difficult situations as well as other coping mechanisms and professional help they sought out to get through these times.
Also notable was a guide on how to find professional help in Germany. In an oftentimes confusing process, especially for our international colleagues, it is imperative that those seeking support can more easily access it. To end the week on a high note, all Billies had Friday off to take care of their well-being and recharge their batteries. Some spent the day in a spa, many took the opportunity to relax at home or exercise, and some spent the day reading or going to the museum.
"It is important to understand that it is okay to sometimes not be okay." - Gianna, VP Sales
Outcome of the Mental Health Week
Reflecting on this year’s mental health week, our Billies found it a positive step in being more open about this still highly stigmatized subject. We’d like to thank our speakers for sharing their experiences and all of the participants who contributed to these important conversations.
Looking ahead, Billie is excited to host another mental health week in 2023 in recognition of World Mental Health Day.