Three Minutes of Calm

At New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, we work with local corporations to employ people who have mental illness. We also offer services to people with mental illness who are looking for employment. So this shift due to COVID-19 was important for us to address.

We are working with companies to create new mental wellness routines for their staff—130 companies in Hong Kong have joined the effort. We launched a campaign across the country to call attention to the importance of taking care of mental well-being daily. Called dayday 330, the campaign encourages people to take microbreaks from work every day for three minutes and 30 seconds. We encourage member-companies to explain the program to their staff and set the daily microbreak at 3:30 p.m., to make it easy to remember.

We encourage people to partake in some small activities during those three minutes and 30 seconds. Have a cup of coffee, listen to a song start to finish, read a small chapter in a book. These breaks can give workers time to relax and get away from the workplace. We also encourage companies to create days focused on mental well-being, such as retreat days, or even a day to bring in special snacks as a way to emphasize that every day is a special day.

To help companies enrich the lives of their staff, we are also creating workshops—anything from woodworking to classes with a Chinese medicine practitioner who suggests foods and drinks to promote relaxation—fun activities that encourage destressing for employees. Companies can help with stress relief by offering places to blow off steam, such as exercise corners or rooms.

Making it work requires buy-in from top management so it can filter down to everyone. One way to start is by having an open and inclusive corporate culture to reduce the stigma of talking about mental illness. Everyone has a responsibility to foster mental well-being.

We encourage firms to have wellness teams composed of staff from across departments, which allows the team members to promote mental wellness throughout the firm and encourages interaction between employees who might not otherwise socialize.

Mental wellness incorporates physical, emotional, psychological, and social health. Our target is not just for individual or personal growth, but also for social growth between people. You have to bond with others, and then have some social culture, to build resilience and build a community. Everyone has to be aware of their mental well-being, especially in this harsh time. We should care not only about ourselves, but also others.

—As told to Debbie Carlson