A recent BIMA survey found that tech sector workers are five times more depressed than the general public. Of those, 13% said their daily lives are affected by headaches, anxiety attacks, sleeplessness and continual tiredness. It really is time for the tech industry to take a more inward looking approach to mental health.
To put it into perspective, as a creative agency of seven people, at least three of us will suffer from anxiety or depression at some point in our lives. However, the guys in the team are statistically less likely to seek help for their mental health than women.
So, we’ve decided to try to do something about it. If we as a small team can commit to raising awareness and start the conversation around mental health in our agency we know our other tech friends can too.
The tech industry is still experiencing a gender imbalance with 85% of the workers being men and knowing that suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45, we’re pretty worried about what these facts mean for our sector.
For that reason, as a team we've pledged to raise at least £1,000 for mental health charity CALM by taking part in a gruelling 5k Tough Mudder event. The course may be seen as brave and difficult but we don’t think talking about mental health should be.
The mud run is mentally and physically challenging and requires the support of everyone in the team to get through it. Much like tackling mental health in the workplace, having the support of your colleagues is crucial.
If you'd like to donate to our fundraiser we'd be immensely grateful. You can find out more and see the lovely faces of the team taking part here. Also, have a think about how your company approaches mental health. While there's always room for improvement, at ecce. we have regular team lunches, early finishes on a Friday, the ability to work from home when necessary and two utterly adorable office dogs to get us out of the office on lunch breaks.
