4 min read
Mental health and wellbeing is an important part of our overall health. It affects everyone, but the right care and support is not always easily available. That’s why over a year ago we launched our 24/7 Mental Wellbeing Support Programme. The programme is a confidential service, available at no extra cost to our members. You can speak about things like your mental health, financial and legal issues, and work-related stress or anxiety.
We introduced the programme because mental health issues are a growing concern for our members and we are astounded by the response to the service.
What do the results tell us?
- There is a growing number of younger people using the service and one in two people using the service are aged under 40 years (48%). One in three (33%) are aged between 20 – 35 years[1]. This compares with 15% of those aged 51-60 years using the service.
- More women (69%) are contacting the 24/7 Mental Wellbeing Support Programme for help and advice than men (31%)[2].
- A sample of 8,500 members have reached out for help, with one in three (39%) of those being referred on for face-to-face consultations with qualified Counsellors and Psychotherapists.
While it may seem alarming that there is such a high prevalence of younger adults seeking mental health support and advice, this age group tends to juggle lots of daily pressures and life changes including family, financial commitments, mortgages and their careers. This can be extremely challenging on their mental wellbeing. The positive is that they are reaching out and asking for the support they feel they need to help cope. There’s a lot to learn from this generation in this way.
The big message here is that you can reach out to services like ours for help on anxiety or mood, as well as many other issues. For many, there are daily decisions and questions like ‘how can I save for a mortgage?’, or ‘am I in the right job?’ that cause people stress. We put our members in touch with experts in different fields such as legal and financial to help give advice and guidance so that the issue doesn’t escalate or deteriorate to become a more acute mental health problem. Reaching out to talk to others and open up about what’s troubling you is often the most powerful first step in getting help and reducing anxiety.
If you are concerned about your own mental health or that of a loved one please take the first step and visit layahealthcare.ie/yourbenefits/mentalwellbeingsupport/ or download ‘peace of mind’ a guide to mental health https://www.layahealthcare.ie/media/site/pdfs/MentalWellbeingDigitalFV.pdf
[1] Laya Healthcare 24/7 Mental Wellbeing Support Service utilisation: 1st September 2018 – 31st August 2019
[2] Laya Healthcare 24/7 Mental Wellbeing Support Service utilisation: 1st September 2018 – 31st August 2019
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