Societe Generale trainees help shape Mind’s work in sport and mental health
An award winning trainee from multinational banking and financial services company, Societe Generale, was part of a team of young people who completed a research project to help its Charity of the Year partner, Mind, learn more about its work in the area of sport and mental health.
Over the summer, twelve school leavers spent eight weeks working across eight areas of Societe Generale as part of City of London Business Traineeship Programme. In addition to their day to day responsibilities, the trainees also came together to work on a joint research project to support “Get Set to Go”, a key programme delivered by Mind.
At the end of their placement, the trainees presented their findings to Mind’s Community Programmes Manager for sport, as well as their own managers and colleagues at Societe Generale.
One of Societe Generale’s trainees working on the project, Arbnor Beciri, was based in the global markets function and won the prestigious “Trainee of the Year Award” at the City of London Business Traineeship programme awards last night.
Arbnor was chosen from more than 100 trainees participating in the scheme and received his award from the Lord Mayor. Arbnor said: “I did not know much about Mind before, but this project has increased my understanding of mental health and the benefits of sports. It is especially important to maintain an active lifestyle when working in the city. This project helped develop so many of my transferable skills and the traineeship has set me in good stead for my future career in this industry”.
Mind will use the research, on sports programmes currently on offer by local authorities across the UK, to help inform “Get Set to Go”, and Hayley Jarvis, Community Programmes Manager (Sport) said: “One of the great aspects of the Mind and Societe Generale charity partnership has been the enthusiasm and willingness of the team to lend their support in providing vital research which will help us to inform how to develop Get Set to Go.
“It’s also great to hear that the young people felt this project had made them more aware of mental health as an issue, and the role physical activity can have on good wellbeing.”
The trainees contacted more than 100 local Minds and County Sports Partnerships, and created a scoring system to allow them to objectively analyse their findings and make recommendations for the future.
Mind’s sport and mental health programme, Get Set to Go, aims to improve the lives of 75,000 people with mental health problems through sport. The programme, currently being offered at eight local Minds across England, sees people with mental health problems – such as anxiety and depression – supported to join sports clubs or take up a new activity.
Societe Generale staff voted for Mind as their Charity of the Year partner 2015-17. The 3,500-strong workforce are aiming to raise £600,000 over the course of the partnership for the “Advice to Action” campaign, helping people with mental health problems get back on track. This will enable Mind to answer tens of thousands of queries to their Infoline, as well as funding new projects for people with mental health problems to get support, build confidence and find employment in their communities.
Beyond fundraising, Societe Generale will work alongside Mind to raise awareness of the charity's work and mental health; and to make Societe Generale a more mentally healthy workplace.