Illuminate and Anchor Hanover join forces to support staff mental wellbeing

Anchor Hanover has appointed Cambridgeshire mental health charity Illuminate to provide specialised mental wellbeing coaching for managers in a new programme to support their teams. 

This support is being offered to 106 managers across the organisation and builds on services Anchor Hanover already provides to help support employee wellbeing and mental health. The care and housing provider has a Colleague Advice Line and a Health Assured website which staff can access to support their physical and mental health. By partnering with Illuminate they continue to acknowledge the importance of recognising and valuing mental wellbeing.  

Sam Greenley, Illuminate’s co-founder said:

We are absolutely delighted to be able to support Anchor Hanover’s managers with their own mental wellbeing and to help them develop the skills to manage the mental health of their teams.

Sam Leonard-Rawlings, Head of Organisational Development, Anchor Hanover said:

This is a great partnership with Illuminate. We have similar aims and common thinking about the importance of maintaining good mental health in the workplace. Our amazing people are the cornerstone of Anchor Hanover, working tirelessly to improve the lives of older people. It has been a hugely challenging year for all of us and we know the impact that has had.  By working with a specialist charity we want make sure our workforce are given the support and tools they need to maintain good mental health.

At the same time, as supporting their people, by choosing us as a charity, rather than a commercial partner, Anchor Hanover allows us to do more in our community - all the profits generated go straight into achieving our mission to improve mental health and reduce stigma.

Maria Varallo, Illuminate co-founder, added.

Even before the current crisis, research by Deloitte in January 2020 put the cost of poor mental health to UK employers (from sickness absence, reduced productivity and staff turnover) at £45 billion a year, or around, 5.8% of average salary.