Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
This week (9th – 15th May) is Mental Health Awareness Week, an annual campaign that encourages people across the UK to openly discuss mental health and support one another. This year, the theme is ‘loneliness’ – which can be both a cause and product of poor mental health – and people are being encouraged to reach out to their family, friends, colleagues and communities to support, connect with and uplift one another. You can find out more about this year’s theme on the Mental Health Foundation’s website.
We at the York & North Yorkshire LEP and Growth Hub are using Mental Health Awareness Week as a way to connect with each other and combat the loneliness we can sometimes feel when working from home. We’re challenging each other to meet face-to-face as much as possible and make room on our agendas to grab a cuppa and get together for some social time. We’re also encouraging our team to reach out and talk with colleagues they don’t know well, so we can all get to know each other a bit more. Finally, we’re making mental health awareness training accessible to the team and pointing everyone to mental health resources and support.
We’re hoping to build more connections across our team and promote open discussions, and we encourage you to spread awareness and support through your workplace as well!
Below are some resources from our website that can help you think about mental health and how you can support both yourself and others in the workplace.
Mental Health & Wellbeing Toolkit
Our Mental Health & Wellbeing Toolkit is free to download and can help answer your questions about workplace wellbeing. The toolkit includes a range of practical resources that can help both you and your employees.
With the guide, you’ll learn:
- What is meant by ‘mental health’?
- Business owners’ legal responsibilities around mental health
- What to do if you are worried about a staff member
- How to avoid creating mental health problems in the workplace
- How to manage your own mental health
On-demand wellbeing webinars
We have a wide range of webinars available on-demand for you to watch, including our new wellbeing playlist. The playlist is free to access and contains hours of content covering mental health, wellbeing and supporting your colleagues and employees.
Topics include:
- Employee wellness and engagement
- Maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing in difficult times
- Supporting the return to work
- Building resilience and supporting team wellbeing
- Plus more
Watch our playlist now with this link.
We also have individual webinars available for you to watch, which cover a variety of topics from wellbeing to leadership and building connections and resiliency across your team. All of our on-demand webinars can be found here.
Tips for creating a happier workforce
One misconception is that keeping employees happy at work is expensive, but you can create a more positive workplace by ensuring your employees feel valued and connected using inexpensive means. Our blog offers you some simple ideas to support your staff and create a happier, more productive and supportive workforce.
Connect with mental health support, training and programmes
Programmes exist to help you support employees who are experiencing mental health challenges and create inclusive workplaces.
Thriving at Work is a project that aims to support people to unlock their potential at work. The project can help you to create an inclusive workplace, and offers specialist coaching, training, webinars and 1-to-1 support. The project not only aims to support people with mental health challenges, but also offers training to help you support neurodiverse and disabled staff to thrive at work too. All support is free to access.
The Skills Support for the Workforce programme offers a range of free training, which includes support around mental health awareness, mental health first aid, promoting equality and diversity in the workplace and more. Skills training is also proven to make employees feel valued, improve productivity and confidence, and encourages teamwork. Skills Support for the Workforce offers training across York and North Yorkshire, for all sectors.
Innovation Supper October 2026: Apply to pitch
Join us for a relaxed evening with a light supper and plenty of inspiration, where you’ll have the chance to step into the spotlight and pitch your business idea to win seed funding. Prior to the pitching, you’ll be provided expert pitch training delivered by York St John, so you’re fully prepared to deliver your pitch with confidence. Whether you’re just starting out or already up and running, you’re invited to get involved.
Say ‘I do’ to getting your side hustle tax right
HMRC’s Help for Hustles campaign is here to help side hustlers get their tax right, quickly and easily - whether that’s wedding suppliers, parents earning from a hobby business or content creators making money from posting about the latest trends online.
CardioLogic Diagnostics Wins Innovation Supper
The fifth instalment of Innovation Supper saw Faye Singleton, Director of CardioLogic Diagnostics, take home the funding after delivering a compelling pitch for her life-saving business. Winning Innovation Supper has provided CardioLogic Diagnostics with seed funding that will help tackle one of the business's biggest early challenges: marketing. The prize money will support activities such as attending industry conferences and investing in paid advertising to reach more customers and raise awareness of the importance of accessible cardiac screening.
Strive Live Start-Up Incubator: Expression of Interest for Autumn 2026
Interested in joining a future cohort of Stive Live Start-Up Incubator? Find out more about the programme below, and register your interest to secure the first places when dates are confirmed.
Steps into Digital Voucher Scheme: Business Success Stories
The Steps into Digital Voucher Scheme helped businesses progress their digital transformation by providing one-to-one support that reflected their individual needs. Working with experienced digital providers, businesses were able to identify practical solutions and make meaningful improvements to the way they operated.
ETL Fluid Experts spark productivity boost with automation investment.
A North Yorkshire manufacturer of industrial filtration systems has dramatically improved production times after introducing automation to a key process, with support from Made Smarter. ETL Fluid Experts (ETL) secured almost £15,000 towards an automated wire processing centre, helping eliminate a major bottleneck in the production of wiring looms.
North Yorkshire manufacturers among firms investing £900,000 in digital tech with Made Smarter
From pizza dough and rally cars to signage, packaging and heavy machinery, makers are investing in growth and jobs. North Yorkshire manufacturers are among 19 Yorkshire businesses investing almost £900,000 in digital technologies to improve efficiency, create jobs and support future growth, with support from Made Smarter Yorkshire.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: The First Deadline is Fast Approaching
With the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA), the biggest change to the Self Assessment system in a generation is now underway. Although the mandatory start date of April 2026 has arrived for the first group of taxpayers, many self-employed individuals and landlords are still unprepared for the new requirements. Now is the time to check whether the rules apply to you and, if they do, ensure you have the right systems in place.
Fully Funded Training for Tourism and Hospitality Businesses - Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering
The York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub are pleased to be partnering with North Yorkshire Council and the City of York Council on an initiative to support hospitality businesses from across the area to benefit from fully funded Food Safety and Hygiene Level 2 training and certification courses
Supporting Start-ups in York and North Yorkshire
Starting a business is exciting, but many first-time business owners are unsure where to begin and how to move forward. The York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub addresses this by providing accessible, fully funded support tailored to those at the earliest stages of their journey and beyond.
Largest crackdown on late payments in over 25 years as landmark Bill enters Parliament
Small businesses will no longer be left chasing money they are already owed, as ministers today [Tuesday 19 May] introduce landmark legislation to end the scourge of late payments and back millions of sole traders, freelancers, and family firms across the country.
Funding reaches £900K in bid to boost exports
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has unlocked a new wave of export funding for businesses, taking the total support up to £900,000. The third round of the Get Exporting programme is available for applications today (Monday, May 11) with £265,000 in grants for businesses to tap into.