The European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA) has partnered with Rise Well, a Wellbeing & Happiness Consultancy, to create a programme aimed at supporting and educating its members on mental health and wellbeing.
The ELFA Wellbeing & Mental Health Initiative, overseen by the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, will provide members with additional support to complement their employer’s existing wellbeing programme. Key elements of the programme have been specifically designed to help members adjust to the new hybrid working format following the pandemic and to cope with any challenges this might create.
The programme follows a successful event co-hosted by ELFA and Rise Well in May on managing the transition back to the office, following a prolonged period of working from home for many in the City. Presented by Dr Rob Archer, chartered psychologist and coach, the webinar focused on improving resilience, wellbeing and performance in the workplace.
The partnership will include additional events, including an upcoming members-only webinar on how to set conscious boundaries between home and work for high performance and happiness, presented by mindful leadership adviser Palma Michel. Rise Well will also create educational content for ELFA, including a quarterly wellbeing newsletter featuring interviews with those in the sector in order to help break the stigma of talking about mental health in the workplace.
Sabrina Fox, Chief Executive Officer, European Leveraged Finance Association, says: “The initiative was born out of my own battles with mental health during lockdown, and discussions with others who were also struggling. In a survey of members, we found that whilst many firms already provide robust resources, nearly half of the respondents either were not aware of them or did not know how to access them. Others noted that due to confidentiality concerns, they might not access these resources at all. Working with the experts at Rise Well has allowed us to create a structured wellbeing and mental health programme calibrated precisely to tackle these issues.
“Our Wellbeing & Mental Health Programme has been designed to complement our member firms’ existing resources and to normalise discussions about mental health. Our programme aims to help remove stigma around the topic, raise awareness of challenges to wellbeing, and arm our members with resources should they be struggling with issues of their own.”
Jen Christie, Founder, Rise Well, says: “When working with the financial services industry, it is common to find that many people struggle with opening up on topics relating to mental health. There are often worries that this might hold them back professionally, generally more so than in other sectors. In an industry where workloads can be especially high, this is a real concern. This is also a trend we see within London more so than the regions, and so the location of many financial services firms being in the City can exacerbate this trend within the sector.
“We are excited to be working on this programme with ELFA. Happiness at work matters and it should matter to businesses too. We look forward to continuing our work with ELFA to support and educate as many people as we can.”
Rise Well is a Wellbeing & Happiness Consultancy with the sole purpose of transforming business cultures to create healthy and happy employees. Its clients in the financial services sector include Muzinich & Co, Calastone, Apax Partners, Aegon Asset Management and Travelers.
