MIMHC to promote mental health awareness in the mortgage sector

The Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC) has confirmed a target of 200-plus signatories by the end of 2022.

Speaking during a webinar hosted by Simply Biz as part of its Vulnerable Client week, co-founder of MIMHC, Jason Berry commented: “We have a real cross-section of current signatories which I am delighted to see.”

“These range from small DA brokerages to Regional Building Societies, Specialist Lenders, Mortgage Clubs and Challenger Banks.”

According to Berry, signatories simply pledge to have a mental health focus within their organisation and commit to keeping conversations going so people affected do not suffer in silence.

“Getting more than 200 signatories is an absolute must for us during 2022 and signing up could not be easier via our website,” he said.

Berry referenced previous survey results, conducted by Crystal Specialist finance in 2021, which worryingly suggested 73% of respondents said their company did not participate in any mental health or wellbeing initiatives, and that 10% of all sick days taken the previous year were as a direct result of poor mental health.

Martin Reynolds, chief executive officer of Simply Biz Mortgages, added: “Poor mental health affects people at all levels of our society and it is a disease which is not mutually exclusive to a specific industry.”

“For years, many companies in our sector have either ignored or had internal wellbeing practices that were not signposted well enough for staff. MIMHC, therefore, aims to proactively increase mental health awareness to help firms with this change and crucially share best practice tips so open and honest conversations are encouraged.”

He concluded: “I particularly like the idea of a coffee roulette where participating staff are randomly matched for 30 minute conversations with colleagues they might not otherwise talk to.”

MIMHC was launched in October 2021 and is a not-for-profit collaboration between seven co-founders. These include Brightstar, Chartwell FS, Coreco, Crystal Specialist Finance, Knowledge Bank, Landbay and Simply Biz.