Central England Co-operative plans week of events as part of Mental Health Awareness Week

Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 04/05/2017

Central England Co-operative has announced a week-long series of events to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.

The Society will be hosting a different activity every day during the annual week, which takes place from Monday 8 May to Friday 12 May, at its Business Support Centre, in Lichfield.

This comes after Chief Executive Martyn Cheatle put pen to paper and signed the Time to Change Employer Pledge in a bid to illustrate the Society’s long-term commitment to raising awareness about mental health problems.

The events taking place during the week of activity will include:

• Mental health first aid training courses
• Dementia Friendly awareness sessions
• Mindfulness workshops
• Walk and talks outside of the office

Tracey Orr, Support Services Executive, has spearheaded the Society’s efforts to tackle the issue of mental health.

She said: “No one should feel ashamed of talking about mental health problems and we want to break the culture of silence around mental health in the workplace.

“As a Society we are proud to be part of Mental Health Awareness Week and proud to have signed the Time to Change Employer Pledge.

“The health and wellbeing of all of our colleagues is of the utmost importance to us and this is why we are more focused than ever in providing support for those who need it and working hard to end the discrimination and stigma associated with mental health.”

Several events will also be taking place in the communities in which the Society serves including special health MOT as part of a community event in Belper, Derbyshire.

Supporting Mental Health Awareness Week and the Time to Change Employer Pledge illustrates the Society’s long-term commitment to put in place the foundations to:

• raise awareness around the importance of mental health and wellbeing at work
• champion the issue by providing the resources and tools for all colleagues
• help break the culture of silence around mental health

Central England Co-operative is also creating 50 mental health and wellbeing champions who will offer support by signposting colleagues towards resources and help regarding mental health.

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with gross sales of £927 million in 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property investment. Central England Co-operative has over 400 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2017.

Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.

Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

For more information visit www.centralengland.coop, follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative

Rob Smyth / Heather Clapton at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140

Email –publicrelations@centralengland.coop