Nurses’ well-being: the badge that reminds others to ask after your mental health
Posted 19 November 2019 - 11:00
The ‘Ask me how I am’ badge is designed to ensure healthcare workers’ own needs are not forgotten
The ‘Ask me how I am’ badge is designed to ensure healthcare workers’ own needs are not forgotten
Nurses are wearing badges encouraging patients and relatives to ask how they are to spark a conversation about staff mental health.
Hundreds of badges bearing the slogan 'ask me how I am… and make my day' have so far been distributed by the Laura Hyde Foundation, which provides mental health support to medical and emergency services professionals. It was set up by the family of naval nurse Laura Hyde, who died by suicide in 2016.
The badges can help people to start talking about mental health
Charity co-founder and Ms Hyde's cousin Liam Barnes, said: 'The badges are meant to say let's start the conversation in a way that can be normalised and remove the stigma around mental health.
‘We wanted to have that direct question, reminding [patients and members of the public] that this is a human on the other side of the exchange, go and ask them how they are.'
Do you need to talk to someone?
- Call The Samaritans on 116 123
- RCN members’ counselling service on 0345 772 6100
‘The message is simple – we don’t want nurses to forget about themselves’
Mr Barnes said 850 badges had been distributed since the start of November.
‘The essence is very simple, sometimes our nurses forget about themselves. They don’t prescribe for themselves what they would for their patients,’ he added.
‘People are quite emotional about the simplicity of the idea and they want to push it out across their trust.’
The free badges can be ordered from the Laura Hyde Foundation.
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