The Foothold Wellbeing Hub was launched at the end of March in response to a significant increase in engineers and technologists seeking mental health support services, including help for anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a public mental health crisis, leaving gaps in the service provision to be filled by the charity sector. In response to the growing need for support, the charity launched the online platform, giving users free, on-demand access to clinically approved resources and techniques to support their mental wellbeing.

Foothold’s chief executive officer, Jane Petit, said:

“We launched the Wellbeing Hub in March following a three-fold increase in requests for our support since the start of the pandemic. Addressing and improving mental wellbeing is particularly important because our state of mind impacts our ability to handle pressure in other areas of life. We’re proud to be able to support the engineering community in this way and pleased the hub has been able to support over 500 people.”

The hub features clinically verified e-learning sessions on topics such as anxiety, depression, work stress, substance abuse and others. It also offers support on pandemic-related challenges like redundancy and isolation. The project is being funded through a collaboration with Gattaca PLC, an engineering and technology recruitment specialist and outsourced solutions provider.

Gattaca’s Chief Customer Officer, Matthew Wragg, commented:

We consider it a fantastic achievement to have been able to support over 500 people since the launch of the Wellbeing Hub. The people we’ve helped are our candidates, our clients. They are our community and this work has made a material impact on their lives. So I thank and applaud the combined efforts of the teams at Gattaca and Foothold, who have provided a safe space and a body of excellent resource for those in need – particularly in these unprecedented times.”

The Wellbeing Hub is free to use for all engineers, technologists and their families worldwide. Find out more at https://www.myfoothold.org/wellbeinghub/.