Global Chief Compliance Officer, Kendell Pierre, explained that MUFG promoted inclusion and diversity among its employees at a global level, and so the mental health awareness focus was part of a bigger initiative by the organisation to ensure that employees could be themselves in the work place.

“MUFG Investor Services has focused on a different pillar each quarter. The first quarter celebrated gender diversity, the second quarter celebrated our LGBT+ community and the third quarter has focused on mental health and wellness,” he advised.

Last week the company undertook five days of mental health and wellness events, which included a presentation by the Employee Assistance Programme, a non-profit programme geared to help employees with counselling on any issues they may be facing. MUFG pays for employees to use this programme and employees can seek counselling anonymously, without the company knowing who has used their services.

MUFG staff also enjoyed a nutrition presentation by Chad Collins at Cayman Nutrition and a wellness presentation from REVIV Grand Cayman, which included B12 shots for MUFG employees. Carrie Brown hosted an enlightening meditation session for MUFG staff on one of the evenings and MUFG employee Kevin Carey facilitated a lunchtime meditation session with the addition of essential oils. Now that MUFG has introduced meditation into the work place, their plan is to continue with the sessions on a weekly basis. On Thursday employees had a particularly pleasant event to enjoy.

“We had our first ever MUFG employee sunset beach walk on Seven Mile Beach. The ocean effects people on almost every level, especially when it comes to mental health which is how the idea of doing a beach walk initially came about,” explained Global Head of Investor Operations, Julie-Ann Allard. “We also wanted to do something for the local community and when we heard about all the amazing initiatives the Alex Panton Foundation was doing, we knew this was the charity we wanted to support. We asked all employees interested in doing the walk to make a donation and MUFG contributed an additional amount. Representatives from the Foundation and Ms. World Cayman joined us for the walk, which we hope to make an annual event.”

The Alex Panton Foundation is a not-for-profit with the primary objective of raising awareness of mental illnesses affecting children and young adults in the Cayman Islands, with a particular focus on anxiety and depression. The Foundation aims to provide hope and resources to family, friends, classmates, teachers and carers to help save the lives of children and young adolescents struggling with mental illnesses.

On Friday afternoon, MUFG employees attended a panel discussion moderated by Global Head of Client Operations, Alan Kennedy. The following leading local mental health professionals were in attendance: Glenn Duran, Corporate Wellness Coordinator (Britcay); Shane Purcell, Board Member/Head of Fund Raising (Alex Panton Foundation); Cindy Blekaitis, Programme Manager (EAP) and Dr. Cindy M. George, Marriage & Family Therapist/ Mental Health Counsellor (The Wellness Centre). They discussed numerous topics in relation to mental health and wellness including work life balance, stress and anxiety and the impact this can have on relationships as well as the impact social media has on our lives.

MUFG’s hope that in undertaking this week of events they would be able to raise awareness of some of the resources available, not only to its employees, but to the wider community as well and help remove some of the stigma associated with mental illness which is still prevalent in the Cayman Islands.