Freeman Brothers was first established as a funeral director in Horsham, West Sussex, in 1855. The company now has a further three offices across the county – in Billingshurst, Crawley and Hurstpierpoint – and works with a team of colleagues to serve these communities. This week, we mark World Mental Health Day, which is themed around workplace mental health.

We at Freeman Brothers have a strong appreciation for the theme of 2024’s World Mental Health Day. It’s great to see this area of mental health highlighted globally, as work can have both a big impact on our lives, and we do not stop being individuals when at work – our personal lives can impact our professional environment as much as things going in the other direction.

Via many years of experience, we have developed policies that we hope support our colleagues in the best way possible, and consistently evaluate these to ensure that we are operating via best practices. We aim to support people both when they are at work and whilst they are not at work, and do so in the following ways.

Mental health in the workplace
We are aware that our work can be emotionally challenging, whether that is due to working with a customer whose experience of bereavement is particularly difficult, attending a death which might be traumatic, being reminded of an experience of our own which was uncomfortable, or any other number of reasons. If any of these situations occurs, colleagues are encouraged to check in with each other, simply by asking whether they are ok, and assessing whether they might need additional support.

Said support could be as simple as taking a short break from their working day before continuing. It might be that the person needs a period of time off, or to be signposted to some resources we have access to.

We are fortunate to access some industry-specific resources via our professional memberships of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) and Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF), and colleagues are regularly reminded of these opportunities. Additionally, if necessary, we will signpost them to support via their GP or local mental health services.

Supporting the right to disconnect
A topic that’s been discussed several times in recent years is whether anyone should be ‘forced’ to switch off from their duties. Our policy is not to enforce this rigidly, as we do not think that this is the right thing for everyone. We encourage employees to make full use of their down time, whether that is outside of their working hours during a week when they are on duty, or when they are taking a period of planned leave.

This is supported by other colleagues covering any necessary workload, and clear communication that, when someone is away from work, we do not expect them to be working. However, as previously acknowledged, we are individuals, and some people prefer to check in occasionally in order to ease any concerns they have about a particular project, or what they may be returning to. All employees are regularly reminded of the importance of taking their annual leave, or any time in lieu that they are owed, in order to ensure that they are well-rested and making the most of their lives outside of work.

Experiences of bereavement
Of course, as well as working with the bereaved, sometimes we are the ones who are bereaved. This can be of a person, or of a pet – many of our colleagues are animal lovers, and we have seen the death of pets impact them just as much as that of a person.

Our policies are consistent with what we’ve stated previously: individuals are given the choice of how they would like to be supported. Some people cope better when at work and feeling both productive and distracted. Others will want and need time off, and sometimes it’s a combination of both approaches in order to help ourselves through. There is no such thing as a universal right or wrong, and we also recognise that each experience is different – if someone experiences multiple bereavements, we don’t expect them to behave in the same way each time.

Improving mental health in the workplace
Whilst the world has come a long way in a short space of time regarding approaches to mental health issues, things will continue to change and there will be further improvements to make. We are committed to making ongoing adjustments where necessary, in order to ensure that our team is as healthy as possible, and able to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities, as well as enjoying their lives away from work.

For more information on World Mental Health Day and this year’s campaign, click here.