Working in PR and communications is stressful, according to the recent CIPR state of the profession report, around one in six PR professionals (16%) report living with a mental health condition – an increase of 10% from the year before. Any percentage increase is a concern, and highlights that more needs to be done in our industry to address this. It’s fine to have policies in place but we need managers to recognise that their staff are their most important assets and happy healthy staff make for a productive work force. KPIs are important but so is mental wellness.

Like many I have suffered with depression myself, I recall working for a very well-known organisation, responsible for one of the largest and busiest directorate’s, my daughter was in nursery but was due to start primary school so I knew that I would have to look into flexible working to accommodate this.

I was juggling motherhood, the pressures of working in a high-profile press office and some personal family issues in addition to preparing for the transition from nursery to school and waiting for acceptance into both breakfast and afterschool clubs.

This is a piece I wrote for Mental Health Awareness Week, published in CIPR’s Influence Online magazine you can read the rest here