Caring for your brain like the rest of your body

Maria was struggling to get out of bed in the mornings. She thought it was a physical problem—a deficiency or condition. When a doctor concluded it wasn’t, it took a while for her to accept that it could be mental health. Maria explains how she overcame her internal stigma of mental health, over time learning to cope with anxiety and depression in both her personal and professional life.

Maria was worried that the fact she was feeling stressed would mean people wouldn’t trust her with responsibility—a fear she now knows was unfounded. She took time off work to recover, helped her employer understand what was happening, and learned to better communicate her emotions.

You’ll hear how therapy in the park, “wind-led” relaxation time, and signalling triggers to colleagues all contributed to Maria’s improved mental health. Plus, why transforming workplace mental health isn’t about making work more tolerable, but creating a fulfilling and purposeful environment that encourages people to flourish, learn, and achieve.

Maria is Chief Operating Officer at Griffin. She has worked as head of People Departments at some of the fastest growing startups in the UK at key stages of their growth, including Monzo, Permutive, Snyk, and GoCardless. She’s also the writer behind the wonderful blog and opinion site, Lower Case Opinions.

Oliva is the UK & Europe's #1 rated employee mental wellbeing benefit.

We help companies respond to the pivotal moments that impact mental wellbeing at work and beyond—driving employee retention and exceptional effort.

We do this by:

• Empowering individuals to take control of their mental wellbeing
• Developing manager emotional intelligence
• Helping HR teams create org-wide psychological safety