Dear all,
Infectious disease outbreaks, like the current Coronavirus (COVID-19), can be scary and can affect our mental health. While it is important to stay informed, there are also many things we can do to support and manage our wellbeing during such times.
Stay connected and maintain your social networks, try as much as possible to keep your daily routines or create new routines in changing situations. While seeing friends and family in person may not be possible during the coronavirus outbreak, it’s important to stay connected – whether it’s by phone, video call, email, text or social media. You may want to agree regular check-in times with family and friends, especially if you are self-isolating.
The World Health Organisation recommend that during these times of stress, pay attention to your own needs and feelings. If working from home - learn simple daily physical exercises to perform indoors, so you can maintain mobility and reduce boredom.
Engage in healthy activity and exercise as outlined by your local health authority. Try to keep regular sleep routines and eat healthy, avoid alcohol and smoking as much as possible.
As ASCO adapts to more remote and isolated working practices in response to the Coronavirus, this might mean managers checking in with their team members more regularly, talking to their team and keeping the communication flowing - in both directions, likewise colleagues keeping in touch with their team members as a show of support for each other.
Please remember we also have First Aider's. The role of a Mental Health First Aider at ASCO is to be a point of contact for an employee who is experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress. This interaction could range from having an initial conversation through to supporting the person to get appropriate help. Mental Health First Aiders will also take an active part in raising awareness of mental health in the workplace, and helping to reduce the stigma around mental health issues.
For more information and support services on mental health go to ASCO's dedicated mental health site on Connect.
Please continue to use the COVID email address (zzRM-COVID-19@ascoworld.com) for any queries that you may have regarding Coronavirus. You can also review all updates on our dedicated SharePoint page.
Kind regards,
The HR Team