A new mental health network organisation for the insurance market, LikeMind, is set to launch officially later this month.

Created by volunteers with the aim of setting a benchmark for good mental health in the industry, the network will be launched on Thursday 22 October with a virtual event.

Co-founded by two insurance professionals, Tim Woodgett and Alexia Eliades, LikeMind’s goal is to create a collective forum that produces and provides mental health best practice: a place where subject matter experts can share their knowledge and expertise with companies who need it, and where organisations can provide feedback on what is happening in their business to enable us all to stay ahead of the curve.

“The insurance industry has the opportunity to lead the way in supporting good mental health across the Financial Services sector,” said Woodgett.

“Our aim is to create a unique space for people to use and access that can improve our collective mental health and removes the stigma that talking about it brings.  It’s OK to not be OK!  We want to encourage everyone to talk about it openly, just like you would talk about a broken arm.” 

LikeMind has created Mental Health Standard Practices which can be adopted as a foundation for individual initiatives. LikeMind said it will share best practice, mental health resources, lessons learned, thought leadership, compelling events and debates. 

 “What Mental Health needs is more candor, to be placed in the spotlight and to encourage more unashamed conversations,” added Eliades.

“Both from my personal experience and my professional journey, I believe LikeMind can make a positive difference to people suffering in silence. We applaud every organisation that places mental health at the forefront of their programmes and encourages employees to train to be mental health first aiders and wellbeing champions.”

Many people struggle with mental health and often a lack of understanding can lead to dismissive or minimising attitudes in the workplace, which can further impact mental health, the organisation noted.

Employers have a legal as well as a moral duty of care to do all they reasonably can to support their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing.

People interested in registering to attend should visit: www.likemind.uk/events