Blue Monday at MediCity: Mental Health and Wellbeing for Businesses

How to Improve Low Mood

Last week, Jen from our team delivered a Blue Monday lunchtime mental health and wellbeing session that focused on a common workplace challenge: low mood and how it shows up day to day.

The session was for people who work at MediCity in Nottingham.

The session created space for honest conversation, practical reflection and realistic strategies that employees could take away and use immediately.

Understanding Low Mood at Work

Many people may experience low mood, but the way it shows up for people may vary. It might appear as reduced motivation, difficulty concentrating, disrupted sleep or feeling stressed and overwhelmed. This can have a negative impact on an individual’s confidence in their ability, their engagement with their team and manager, and their output within their role due to these impacts. When enduring, this can increase absence due to trying to self-manage and increase turnover due to associating negative emotions with work.

During the session, the group explored:

• The different ways low mood can present

• How thoughts, feelings and behaviours interact

• Practical strategies to manage difficult periods more effectively

The session helped employees to normalise experiences of low mood and provide helpful strategies for overcoming and managing low mood should it occur.

Creating Space for Meaningful Mental Health Conversations

Feedback from our Blue Monday sessions delivered at MediCity Nottingham highlighted the value of taking time out of busy schedules to focus on wellbeing.

“As a manager, it was a great opportunity for us to step away from the day-to-day and show that mental health and wellbeing are something we genuinely care about and want to prioritise.”

Those who joined the session valued the interactive and conversational nature of the session, describing it as a safe, open space that felt like the start of ongoing conversations, rather than a one-off workshop. The majority of psychological problems build over time, so taking a proactive approach to recognising where there may be triggers or exacerbating factors allows us to plan how to approach these points and remain resilient. Stress and low mood feel much harder to manage when there isn’t a plan or a sense of safety in the structures around us.

Practical Tools with Lasting Impact

Session attendees resonated with practical frameworks shared during the session, including:

• The thought–feeling–behaviour–reaction model

• The ACE principle as a “recipe for a good mood”

• Evidence-informed guidance around sleep and energy

As one participant shared:

“The tools really resonated with me and are things I’ll definitely keep using.”

These kinds of practical takeaways are key to supporting both individual wellbeing and sustained workplace performance. We want to ensure we are providing practical support that people can continue to utilise or share with others.

Why Proactive Mental Health Support Matters

Sessions like Blue Monday reinforce the importance of a proactive approach to mental health at work. When organisations invest early, they:

Support staff before issues escalate

Build psychologically safer workplace cultures

Protect engagement, morale and productivity

This is exactly where The Condition Management Company focuses its work.

How We Support Organisations

We partner with organisations to deliver:

• Mental health training that is practical, engaging and evidence-based

• Bespoke wellbeing sessions tailored to your workforce needs

• Consultancy services to support longer-term wellbeing strategy, embedding psychological safety across your organisation

• Psychological support for both acute need when a problem emerges or where an enduring problem has become a barrier to overcome

• Condition management for those with long term, recurrent and enduring psychological problems to ensure proactive support and planning across the year, reducing impacts to the individual’s wellbeing and their performance.

Whether it’s a seasonal awareness session like Blue Monday or a wider programme of support, our aim is always the same: helping people stay well and productive at work.

Looking Ahead

Mental health challenges don’t begin or end with one Monday in January. By creating space for conversation, equipping staff with practical tools and embedding wellbeing into workplace culture, organisations can make a meaningful difference all year round.

If you’d like to find out more about our Blue Monday sessions or explore how The Condition Management Company can support your organisation, we’d be happy to talk.