‘HEYAREYOUOK’ TAKING A MUSICAL APPROACH TO EMOTIONAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE…

A new media campaign is taking a musical approach to the issue of suicide and emotional health in the workplace…

The #HeyAreYouOK campaign provides employers and employees with clear steps on how to spot and prevent distress at work and encourages them to talk about it openly and honestly.

The 3-minute track and music video is designed to encourage people to ask colleagues #HeyAreYouOK.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29. The Centre for Mental Health estimates the impact of mental ill-health in the UK workplace to cost employers £26 billion per year, equivalent to £1,035 for every employee.

STORM CIC, a not-for-profit organisation providing professional skills training and community education in suicide prevention, is launching the #HeyAreYouOK track and video in the run-up to World Suicide Prevention day on September 10.

Dr Gill Green, CEO & Co-founder at STORM CIC, said: “To look after your emotional health is not just important, it is essential. Stress can develop into distress – the precursor to suicidal thinking and distress is the reason why we are taking action as it’s something that can affect everyone. You don’t have to have a mental illness to be vulnerable to suicide.”

“There’s some great advice out there on how to deal with distress but can be hard for people to access it. That’s why we created the song, to really highlight the issue of emotional health and provide easy to follow advice delivered through powerful lyrics and music.”

The song’s lyrics were delivered by spoken word and hip-hop artist, Christian Foley and sung by upcoming talent Mica Bernard.

Georg Seiler, founder at Tailored Rhymes said: “We wanted to create a song that would appeal to a wide range of people so that this important message is brought to life and heard by as many as possible. Working with influential artists and composers means we’ve been able to launch something which we really hope people will find emotive and supportive.”

The track and video are available to view here. You can support the campaign by sharing #HeyAreYouOK.