As our industry continues to get back on its feet after two incredibly difficult years, an important part of that recovery is making sure we take the time to look after our mental health.

Annual events like this week’s Mental Health Awareness Week serve as a vital reminder of the importance of having open and honest conversations about how we’re feeling and this year’s focus is on loneliness, something that many have experienced, especially during the pandemic. 

For anyone who is struggling or feeling alone, please know that there is lots of help and support available through our charity, ABTA LifeLine.

As well as providing access to free, private and confidential counselling support through our partnership with The Centre for Crisis Psychology (CCP), LifeLine is working with TTG Media on the ‘Get Travel Talking’ campaign to help break the stigma around mental health.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the latest phase of the campaign sees five industry professionals starting mental health first aid training in partnership with St John Ambulance so they can become ‘Get Travel Talking Champions’. The role of these champions is to listen and provide friendly support to colleagues in need, or signpost them to further specialist support. 

You can hear more about the initiative from LifeLine’s Director, Trudie Clements, in the video below and hear why the champions have got involved in their video interviews going out this week on TTG’s Mental Health Hub.

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive