Stress awareness month: support for your clients

With Stress Awareness Month taking place throughout April, it’s a great time to remind your clients about the additional support available through their policy if they need emotional or practical help.

Stress can affect all of us at some point in our lives. But with research finding we’re feeling more stressed than ever, it’s important to know when to ask for help, and who to turn to.

A stressed nation

The events of the last couple of years have increased mental ill health across all ages, with new research pointing to a nationwide increase in overwhelm, anxiety, and depression:

  • 65% of adults feel more stressed since Covid-19 restrictions began [1]
  • 53% feel more anxious than usual [2]
  • 44% are more depressed than usual [2]
  • 74% of adults have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope at some point in the past year [3]

Figures from the Mental Health Foundation also found that feeling overwhelmed was higher in 18-24-year-olds (83%) compared to people aged 55 and over (65%) [2]. And just over a third (34%) of younger people have said their mental health has worsened since the pandemic. [1]

Of course, with these increases comes more calls for help. The NHS recently reported a record high waiting list for mental health services, which now stands at around 4.3 million referrals – 1 million of which is for children or adolescents. [4]

Additional support for your clients

Now is a good time to remind your clients, both new and existing, of the added value services available from day one of their protection policy:

  • Wellbeing Support – personalised telephone support from a registered nurse for your client and their immediate family, including their children living at home. Available as standard with Life, Critical Illness, Income Protection, Rental Protection or business protection. Service provided by RedArc Assured Ltd.
  • Rehabilitation Support Services – access to a specialised rehabilitation team for mental health, physical and wellbeing back to work support. Available as standard with Income Protection.

How Wellbeing Support can help

Your client can speak to the same experienced mental health nurse who’ll tailor support to their specific needs, concerns and circumstances. The service can help with:

  • Goal setting and planning
  • Coping and resilience techniques
  • Clinical assessment and identification of the most appropriate form of therapy, approach and provider (local or remote services)
  • Sharing and signposting to helpful resources, such as apps, literature, or local groups
  • Risk assessments
  • Long-term support of the mental health nurse goes beyond the course of therapy, to embed strategies and support a sustained recovery

Visit the Umbrella Benefits page for more information about our added value services.