Summertime Sadness: When the Sun Doesn’t Lift Your Mood

Summer is often seen as a welcome break from the grey skies of winter. Brighter mornings, lighter evenings, and the chance to take time off are all reasons to look forward to this time of year. But for some employees, the summer months can bring an unexpected drop in mood, energy or motivation—a phenomenon often referred to as summertime sadness.

At Wellbeing Partners, the UK’s leading provider of workplace mental health and wellbeing support, we understand that emotional wellbeing doesn’t follow the seasons. Just as winter can trigger low mood for some, summer can present its own mental health challenges—particularly in fast-paced or high-pressure work environments.

How Summer Can Affect Workplace Wellbeing

It may seem counterintuitive, but summer can be emotionally difficult for many employees. Some of the reasons include:

  • Disrupted Routines: Annual leave, school holidays, and shifting workloads can lead to a lack of structure. While flexibility is often welcomed, it can also cause stress for those who rely on routine to stay grounded and productive.
  • Increased Workload: Covering for colleagues on leave or managing end-of-quarter deadlines can result in increased pressure, fatigue or burnout.
  • Social Expectations: The assumption that summer should be “carefree and happy” can make it harder for employees to speak up if they’re struggling. There may also be added pressure to attend social events that feel emotionally or physically draining.
  • Sleep Disruption and Heat Stress: Warmer nights and longer daylight hours can interfere with sleep, which has a direct impact on concentration, mood and overall resilience at work.
  • Body Image and Self-Esteem: Hotter weather can exacerbate personal insecurities, particularly when dressing for comfort in professional settings or navigating the constant exposure to “summer body” culture.

Supporting Yourself and Your Team

If summer feels more draining than energising, it’s important to acknowledge that experience and take steps to protect your mental wellbeing. Some simple but effective strategies include:

  • Maintain a Regular Schedule: As much as possible, stick to consistent working hours, breaks and sleep times. Routine can restore a sense of control and focus.
  • Take Meaningful Breaks: Use your annual leave to fully disconnect—not just from work emails, but from the mental pressure of constant productivity. A real break helps restore both wellbeing and performance.
  • Watch for Signs of Struggle: Irritability, withdrawal, poor sleep, and low motivation can all be signs someone is not coping. If you’re noticing changes in yourself or a colleague, start a supportive conversation or point them to available resources.
  • Make Space for Openness: Teams that normalise conversations about mental health—year-round—create safer, more sustainable working environments. As a manager or colleague, it’s okay to ask how someone’s really doing.

What Employers Can Do

Workplaces have a vital role to play in supporting employee mental health—especially during seasonal transitions. Through their expert-led training, consultancy and support services, Wellbeing Partners help organisations across the UK build mentally healthy, high-performing teams.

From one-to-one employee wellbeing sessions and leadership training to proactive mental health strategy, Wellbeing Partners provide tools that meet the real-world needs of today’s workforce.

Final Thought

Just because it’s sunny outside doesn’t mean everyone feels bright on the inside. Whether you’re managing a team or trying to stay on top of your own workload, remember that struggling in summer is more common than you might think—and support is available.

For more information please contact [email protected] or complete the form below:

A New Approach to Employee Mental Health

Wellbeing Partners offer an unique and expansive counselling service with sessions that can be ad hoc, flexible or ongoing and regular and that can be held online or in-person.

Our team offers expert support in areas including:

  • Neurodivergent mental health
  • Menopause-related mental health
  • Burnout and chronic stress
  • Sickness absence due to mental health issues
  • Anxiety, depression, OCD
  • Bereavement
  • Trauma
  • Insomnia
  • Workplace relationship difficulties

In today’s fast-paced work environment, the need for timely, expert mental health support has never been more critical. At Wellbeing Partners, we go beyond traditional EAPs to deliver specialist workplace counselling that’s flexible, proactive, and clinically robust.

With many years of experience and a clear focus on early intervention, our service empowers employees to navigate a wide range of challenges — from common wellbeing concerns to more complex or specialist issues — in a confidential, supportive environment.

Sessions are typically held online for ease of access, but we also offer on-site counselling by arrangement. Whether you need ad hoc supportflexible access, or regular sessions, we tailor our service to your organisation’s needs.

If you’re ready to move beyond reactive support and create a workplace culture where mental wellbeing is proactively protected, we’d be happy to help. For more information please fill in the form below.

Loneliness Awareness Week 2025 theme revealed: “Reducing the Stigma Around Loneliness”

Loneliness Awareness Week (9th – 15th June, 2025) is the annual event dedicated to raising awareness about the impact of loneliness on our mental health.  This year the theme is reducing the stigma associated with loneliness, a stigma that can stop people seeking support, leaving them to suffer in silence.

At Wellbeing Partners we have developed a one hour wellbeing workshop for your employees called Improving Connection and Belonging to help reduce the stigma around loneliness and to give your staff the tools to build connections at work and in their personal lives and communities, and to bolster their self-esteem and confidence.

Loneliness is often seen as a personal issue, but it impacts our professional life as well as the issues crated by loneliness cannot simply be left at the door when we enter the workplace. At Wellbeing Partners we noticed a worrying increase of employees struggling with issues around loneliness, a lack of connection and feelings of separation.  Loneliness often underpins issues around stress, anxiety, burnout and depression and if not manged effectively, will continue to impact the individual and their engagement and performance at work.

Our Improving Connection and Belonging Workshop is an interactive 60-minute session.  It gives participants the necessary understanding of why we experience loneliness and how we can rebuild a sense of belonging and form new bonds, personally and professionally.  The session looks at:

  • Connection, Belonging and Loneliness: Puts the human need for connection into its evolutionary context and explains that loneliness is a normal part of the human condition
  • The Impact of Loneliness: A brief overview of the impact of loneliness upon our physical and mental health.
  • Intentional Connection: Highlights a variety of ways in which we can build connection, starting with small steps and then widening the circle – looks at hobbies, community projects and volunteering.
  • Self-Care to Combat Loneliness: Here we explore how self-care practices can help people develop resilience to the difficult feelings associated with loneliness and highlighting that it is ok to struggle, reducing the stigma.
  • Conscious Social Media Interaction: Shows how social media can exacerbate feelings of separation, inferiority and loneliness but that through conscious engagement we can use it as a connection tool.
  • Express and Process Emotions: Provides effective emotional intelligence practices that allow us to process difficult thoughts and emotions that might feed loneliness
  • Professional Support: To emphasise the importance of talking about our difficulties, we highlight the professional support that is available for people struggling with loneliness and a lack of connection.

If you would like to know more about this workshop, please complete the below form.

Why a SoundBath Session in Your Workplace is a Brilliant Way to Bring Your Employees Together

In today’s fast-paced, high-pressure work environments, employee wellbeing has never been more important. Amid deadlines and constant demands, organisations are adopting innovative solutions to support their teams and create a balanced, productive workforce.

One such solution gaining popularity is SoundBath Sessions from Wellbeing Partners. This unique sound therapy promotes relaxation and mental clarity, offering employees a shared experience that fosters calm and a sense of community. Here’s why SoundBaths are an effective way to enhance workplace wellbeing:

What is a SoundBath?

A SoundBath is a meditative experience where participants relax for 20-30 minutes, surrounded by the soothing sounds of glass, crystal, and metal bowls. These instruments produce overlapping sound waves that induce deep relaxation, reduce stress, alleviate anxiety, and promote mental clarity.

Enhancing Workplace Culture

Integrating SoundBaths into your wellbeing programme fosters a supportive culture and encourages a sense of community. Employees will engage in a shared experience, sparking conversation and boosting morale long after the session.

Boosting Mental Clarity and Focus

SoundBaths help clear mental fatigue by promoting relaxation, allowing the mind to reset. This mental refreshment improves clarity, concentration, and creativity, leading to better decision-making and enhanced focus in the workplace.

Stress Relief and Reduced Anxiety

Sound therapy has been shown to lower cortisol levels, helping employees combat stress and anxiety. SoundBaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, encouraging relaxation and a clearer, calmer perspective for tackling tasks ahead.

Physical Relaxation and Improved Wellbeing

The vibrations from the SoundBath bowls help ease muscle tension and promote circulation, making it especially beneficial for employees who spend long hours at desks. Regular sessions offer a holistic approach to both physical and mental wellbeing.

A Quick, Effective Solution for Busy Teams

SoundBaths are efficient—just 20-30 minutes is enough to reap the benefits. This makes them ideal for busy employees and easy to incorporate into the workday, whether during breaks, after meetings, or as part of a wider wellbeing initiative.

In-person sessions also create a sense of collective experience, particularly beneficial for hybrid workers who may feel isolated.

By reducing stress, enhancing focus, and supporting physical relaxation, SoundBaths provide a holistic solution for a healthier, more productive workplace. Bring this calming practice into your office and offer employees the gift of relaxation, focus, and community.

For more information on Wellbeing Partners’ SoundBath Sessions, please complete the form below:

Employee Counselling for Uncertain Times

In the past few months, a theme that has emerged in employee counselling as a major driver of stress and burnout amongst employees is that of “uncertainty”.  This feelings of not quite knowing what is going to happen and the sense of trouble on the horizon are great drivers of human unease.  The brain evolved to crave certainty and when uncertainty arises, it can lead to greater levels of stress, anxiety, depression and a spiral of negative thoughts and emotions.

It is not without reason that scrolling through the news and social media has been dubbed “doomscrolling”.  All around us and at our fingertips is news of threat, where daily updates about global insecurity, political instability, war, financial crises and escalating environmental damage are just part of fabric of daily life.

Our team of workplace counsellors have noted a rise in concern about this widespread uncertainty amongst employees at all levels of organisations, affecting not only the mental health of the employees, but also their ability to focus and meet their professional responsibilities. We cannot change the external uncertainties, but our highly skilled and experienced employee counsellors can help your employees find coping strategies to manage the perception of threat and stress levels, helping employees be happier, resilient and more productive.

The employee counsellors at Wellbeing Partners are all BACP certified and, crucially, have extensive experience in helping people manage uncertainties, both professional and personal, meaning these problems get the timely support required to help people overcome them.

Employee Counselling is not a luxury, but an intelligent, supportive and economical response to mental health issues caused by the pressures of an uncertain world. It offers both short and long-term gains for individuals and organisations.  You may find it useful to introduce regular employee counselling sessions for employees, each led by a multi-qualified specialist.  Alternatively urgent employee mental health sessions can be booked on a case-by-case basis, providing a cost-effective, high-quality alternative to the more familiar EAP approach.

For more information on our employee counsellign and how we can support your employees at times of uncertainty, please complete the form below.

Empowering Menopausal Women in the Workforce

A key aspect of the new UK government’s Plan to Make Work Pay legislation is its focus on improving support for women navigating peri-menopause and menopause within the workplace environment.

While mental and physical health support has improved in many workplaces, menopausal women are still often met with challenges such as misunderstanding, stigma, and even discrimination at work. This leaves many women feeling forced to leave the workforce at a time when their invaluable experience, knowledge, and skills are needed most.

Mature women bring a wealth of benefits to workplaces, including intelligence, wisdom, resilience, collaborative skills, multitasking abilities, and essential mentorship for younger generations of employees. By supporting menopausal women, you can retain these valuable assets while fostering a more inclusive, productive workplace.

Wellbeing Partners can help you create a comprehensive support program that not only aids menopausal employees but also ensures your organisation complies with the Make Work Pay legislation. We offer a range of tailored services designed to support the unique needs of your workforce:

  1. Specialist Menopause Counselling
    Our menopause counselling services offer a safe space for peri-menopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal women to address their mental health and wellbeing needs. This can be offered on an ad-hoc or regular basis, depending on your organisation’s requirements.
  2. Menopause Training for Line Managers
    A two-hour, live and interactive training session for your line managers and leaders, aimed at increasing awareness of menopause and its impact on women at work. The training includes key skills for having supportive conversations that foster a collaborative approach to accommodations and flexibility between managers and menopausal workers.
  3. Surviving and Thriving in Menopause
    This one-hour awareness and self-care workshop raises awareness of menopause in the workplace. It focuses on the strengths and contributions that menopausal women bring to society and the workplace, offers insights into menopause symptoms that can impact work, provides a thorough understanding of HRT and other self care tips and techniques for reducing symptoms, as well as advice for creating a more inclusive work environment for menopausal women.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help your organisation support and retain menopausal workers, please get in touch by completing the form below, or email [email protected]

Boost Workplace Wellbeing with Recovery Counselling for Employees on Sick Leave

Workplace absenteeism due to mental health concerns such as anxiety, stress, burnout, depression, and trauma is on the rise. In the UK, the average number of sick days taken by employees has surged by 55% since 2019[1]. For employees who are off work for extended periods, the lack of a tailored recovery plan can lead to avoidable prolonged absence, increased anxiety about returning to work, and diminished productivity upon their return.

Introducing Wellbeing Partners’ Recovery Counselling Service
At Wellbeing Partners, we understand the unique challenges that employees face when navigating a period of sick leave. That’s why we’ve designed a cost-effective, professional support service to help employees recover more effectively—both physically and mentally—while preparing them for a smooth return to work.

Our Recovery Counselling service provides employees on sick leave with a set of tailored, 50-minute online sessions with experienced workplace mental health professionals. Employees receive expert support to manage anxiety, burnout, stress, insomnia, depression, bereavement and grief, trauma, and interpersonal difficulties—issues that can significantly affect their health and productivity.

How We Help
Our Recovery Counselling service equips employees with practical tools to:

  • Recover and maintain their wellbeing
  • Build resilience and coping skills
  • Navigate the sometimes anxiety-filled process of returning to work
  • Restore their overall wellbeing and capacity to flourish in the workplace

Why Choose Wellbeing Partners?

  • Expert Support: Our team consists of fully qualified and experienced workplace mental health professionals, each with a minimum of 10 years post-qualification experience and professional association membership
  • Tailored Approach: Each employee is provided with confidential sessions to improve their mental wellbeing, including a wellbeing recovery plan that is based on their individual needs
  • Convenient Access: Sessions take place online, making it easy for employees to access support from the comfort of their own space
  • Cost-Effective: Our service provides a budget-friendly solution to help employees recover and return to work with confidence.

By offering Recovery Counselling, you’re not just supporting your employees during their sick leave; you’re also investing in their long-term wellbeing and productivity. Helping employees return to work with confidence and resilience benefits your business, too—by reducing the risk of longer-term absence and supporting a healthier, more engaged workforce.

Contact us below to learn more about how Wellbeing Partners can support your employees through their recovery journey.

[1] https://www.peoplehr.com/en-gb/resources/blog/sick-leave-report-how-are-different-industries-faring/#:~:text=The%20current%20status%20of%20sick%20leave%20in%20the%20UK,-To%20do%20a&text=Nationally%2C%20the%20report%20has%20revealed,compared%20to%20120%2he s0in%202022.

Elevate Employee Wellbeing with Fully Qualified Workplace Counselling

At Wellbeing Partners, we understand the critical importance of mental health in the workplace. Our team of fully qualified and experienced workplace counsellors is dedicated to providing effective support that prioritises prevention and recovery for mental health and wellbeing challenges.

Why Choose Wellbeing Partners?

  • Qualified Experts: Our mental health clinicians all hold recognised qualifications and boast a minimum of 10 years of post-qualification clinical experience at master level. All team members are accredited by leading professional associations, including the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
  • Flexible Support Options: We offer ad hoc, flexible, and regular counselling services tailored to your organisational needs. Employees can access support quickly through online or in-person sessions, ensuring convenience and accessibility.
  • Value-Driven Investment: Our approach delivers excellent value, demonstrating a high return on investment in employee wellbeing.

A New Approach to Mental Health Support

Wellbeing Partners is at the forefront of transforming workplace mental health services, moving beyond traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to provide timely and impactful support. Our clinical excellence, many years of experience, and our focus on prevention and proactive care distinguishes us from other providers.

Our counselling services empower employees to address a wide range of issues in a supportive and confidential environment. Our expertise encompasses:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Burnout
  • Bereavement and loss
  • Insomnia and sleep disorders
  • Trauma
  • Interpersonal relationship challenges
  • Chronic stress
  • Neurodivergent mental health
  • Menopause-related mental health issues
  • Health-related mental health challenges

Invest in Your Employees’ Wellbeing

Supporting mental health is not just a responsibility; it’s an investment in your organisation’s future. With Wellbeing Partners you can ensure your employees receive the professional guidance they need to thrive both personally and professionally.

We look forward to partnering with you to create a healthier, more resilient workplace!

To learn more about our services and how we can support your team, please complete the form below

 

Bite-Sized Lunch & Learns for Autumn and Winter

We are excited to launch our new range of Seasonal Bite-Sized Lunch & Learns – a series of five x 30 minute winter wellbeing workshops for your employees to learn key tips and techniques for boosting their wellbeing throughout autumn and winter.  The sessions are delivered by our team of fully qualified and experienced professionals.

These shorter sessions offer a timely and accessible way of reminding your staff about vital self-care actions for staying well and productive over the colder, darker months.

Bite-Sized Lunch & Learns – 30 minutes each, live online for your employees

Combatting Loneliness in Winter: Loneliness and isolation are common experiences felt by a growing number of people, particularly over the autumn and winter months. Loneliness is a risk factor for anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.. This session looks at how loneliness can develop, and practical steps to bolster connection and a sense of belonging. Topics include: 

  • Intentional connection – how to boost engagement with friends, family and community
  • The importance of warmth and exercise
  • Conscious social media usage
  • Self-care for supporting mental wellbeing

Movement for Mental Health: Humans evolved to be active every day, but the colder months see most working people moving and exercising less, impacting mood and mental wellbeing and overall health. This session explores strategies for how employees can incorporate movement into break times, and find time for enjoyable, regular exercise throughout winter, bolstering both mental and physical wellbeing. Topics include:

  • The link between movement and  mental health
  • Stepping up outdoors activity in daily life
  • Gentle movement and stretching for stress relief
  • Mindful movement, flow state and resilience

Nutrition Basics for Winter: As we move into the autumn and winter there’s a shift what we desire and require in terms of food and nutrition. This session helps your employees to gain knowledge and skills for planning and preparing for eating well over the winter months for enjoyment, warmth, immune system, physical health and mental wellbeing. Topics include: 

  • When to consider supplementation
  • Immune-enhancing foods
  • Balancing your plate

Get Your Sleep Sorted: Good mental health is underpinned by heathy sleep, and in the winter months our sleep drive and sleeping patterns can change.  This short masterclass teaches the basics of becoming a “good sleeper” using psychology-based techniques – a highly successful method designed to combat insomnia, to cultivate the foundations of rest needed for good mental health wellbeing. Topics include:

  • Steps to become a good sleeper
  • From poor sleeper to good sleeper – the process
  • The psychological connection between bed and sleep 

Avoiding Anxiety in Winter:  Fewer daylight hours, a seemingly monochrome environment, the damp, the cold and the relentlessness of the winter months are often associated with depression, however the winter environment can be a trigger for anxiety too.  In this session, we explore a variety of anxiety reduction techniques, giving employees a toolkit to feel more calm and content during winter. Topics include: 

  • Boost your serotonin and dopamine 
  • Reframing anxiety – not an enemy to be defeated
  • The Mindful Pause – anxiety reduction in the moment
  • Grounding, and settling the mind

If you would like more information on these Lunch & Learns, please complete the form below:

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