Ford & Mental Health Day: How to Help Break the Silence

Added: 05 October 2018

World Mental Health Day falls on 10th October, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world.

Mental Health is an issue we can’t afford to ignore. So many find it difficult to talk about their problems and choose to battle them alone. As one of the UK’s biggest employers, Ford wanted to help to change that.

The Elephant in the Transit

Together with mental health campaign Time to Change, Ford launched a campaign entitled, “The Elephant in the Transit”. Designed to encourage men to open-up and talk about their problems, the aim is to help change the conversation around mental health.

According to research, having a chat facing the same way as someone makes people more honest and open to discussing their feelings. Considering over a million journeys are made in Ford Transit vans daily, this led Ford to come up with the idea that a Transit van could provide a space for countless men to talk about mental health, every day.

How You Can Help

Ford and Time to Change have also come up with five ‘top tips’ to help people across Britain to spot the signs and offer support:

Text/Call Reach out - start small
Find a good time and place
Go for a coffee
Ask how they are - listen without judging
Treat them the same

If you have a friend, family member or colleague you are worried about, or would just like to find out more, you can get advice from Time to Change at www.time-to-change.org.uk