21st May 2020 | Life at Virgin Wines | 5 minute read
Here at Virgin Wines HQ we pride ourselves on looking out for one another and trying to be as supportive as we possibly can to those around us. The current COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on all of us, for some more significantly than others. The one thing we can all say however is that we are all living in a very different world to the one we are used to.
Mental health has now, more than ever, become an extremely sensitive yet topical subject that we at Virgin Wines want to do our best to support in whatever way we can. When we survey our staff about charitable donations, mental health issues are always high on the agenda, sometimes as a result of personal or family experiences.
We are therefore delighted to have partnered with industry-based wellness initiative, The Drinks Trust, alongside farm-based mental health charity Growing Well. Both of these organisations work to assist those struggling with mental health issues.
The Drinks Trust is a charitable wellness initiative within the drinks industry that has focused on the potential long-term effects that COVID-19 will have on the mental health and wellness of the drinks industry community which homes over 600,000 people.
Our CEO, Jay, says “we strongly believe in helping people within our own industry at their time of need. This is a much needed and very worthy cause and one we are proud to be significantly supporting’’.
The campaign will offer a comprehensive package of services accessible to all, combined with specific treatment for depression and severe anxiety to a number of individuals who are identified to have the greatest need. This is combined with specialised one-to-one support for those who have severe struggles with alcohol as we look to promote mindful drinking at this time.
Jay continues, “many people in the drinks industry right now are in danger of losing their livelihood or are currently furloughed on 80% of their salary due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to the pressure that in itself brings, there is then the loneliness and isolation that many are also having to deal with, often in conjunction to those financial worries already mentioned”.
The campaign will run for an initial seven month period, from May 2020 to December 2020. The launch is planned to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs from 18th to 24th May.
We chose Growing Well as our second partnership, who offer mental health recovery work within the operation of an organic growing and farming environment. Growing Well rehabilitates those with mental health issues to move back into a work environment by volunteering to grow food and increase their social connections. Some of the people they help have also had unhealthy experiences with alcohol either leading up to or as a result of their mental health issues.
As Jay says, “fundamentally our aim is to support a wonderful organisation that helps many people with a variety of mental health challenges, at a time when funding for these organisations is being cut back dramatically to the point where they would find it hard to survive without additional financial support”.
Contact our PR Manager, Emma Roe on 01603 886618, or drop her an email at emma.roe@virginwines.co.uk
