World Mental Health Day: Are We Listening?
PR is an industry I love. It’s fast-paced, creative, collaborative and rarely predictable. But the same things that make it exciting – tight deadlines, pitches, campaign launches, changing priorities and client demands – can also create pressure. And while we might work in the same industry, or even the same team, we don’t all experience that pressure in the same way.
That’s why I think human understanding matters just as much inside an organisation as it does in the work we create for our clients. If we want to build workplaces where people can thrive, we need to understand how people are actually experiencing them – what they value, how they feel and what they need from us.
This year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” feels particularly relevant. It asks us not just to listen to people’s experiences, but to use what we hear to help shape what happens next.
And in our own industry, there is clearly still work to do. The PRCA’s 2025 UK PR & Communications Census found that while 69% of PR and communications professionals rated their mental wellbeing at work as good or very good, that figure masks a significant gender gap: 80% of men rated their mental health at work positively, compared with just 58% of women.
For me, that gap reinforces why we can’t assume that because a workplace or a way of working is working well for some people, it’s working well for everyone. We have to create the space for different experiences to be heard – and, crucially, be prepared to act on what we hear.
When it comes to mental health, that means moving beyond one-size-fits-all ideas of support. What helps one person thrive might not be what somebody else needs, and we only understand that if we ask, listen and keep the conversation going.
That’s something I think about a lot as a Mental Health First Aider and through helping to lead our Be Kind To Your Mind employee resource group at Zeno London.
Listen, then act
Supporting wellbeing starts with understanding what people need - and recognising that this will be different for everyone. From Mental Health First Aiders and confidential counselling to simply creating space for honest conversations, the important thing is not just to listen, but to respond.
Make wellbeing part of everyday work
Wellbeing shouldn’t sit separately from working life. Taking dedicated time to recharge all help, but so do the everyday moments: taking a proper break, connecting over Zeno Eats and looking out for one another that creates a supportive culture.
Make time to connect
Wellbeing isn’t only about formal support or time away from work. Connection matters too. This can be the everyday things: taking a proper lunch break, checking in with each other and recognising when someone might need a little more support.
What this means at Zeno London
At Zeno, we believe real change starts with human understanding. That shapes how we support our own people, but it’s also fundamental to the work we do for our clients: understanding people, culture and what really matters to them. Our commitments include flexible working hours, our Work From Anywhere policy and Freedom Friday, when everyone can finish at 3pm once a month. We also get an additional day off for World Mental Health Day and another at the beginning of spring, giving people time to properly switch off and recharge. At the heart we know that listening matters. Because what we do with what we hear matters even more.
