At the IFUT Annual Delegate Conference this year, members of the Union voted in favour of a motion calling on IFUT to mark World Mental Health Day.  By voting in favour of this motion, the ADC encouraged IFUT to use World Mental Health Day 2022, which will take place on 10^th October 2022, as an opportunity to promote work-life balance and positive mental health among its members and all workers in the Higher Education Sector.

Accordingly, we are asking all Branches to mark this date in some way locally.  If your Branch does not have its own specific plan for the day, we encourage Branches to adopt the initiative of the IFUT UCD Branch who proposed the original motion, and mark the day with a candle lit vigil on campus at lunch time in recognition of the issue of worker burnout.

As Branches plan their activities we ask you e-mail IFUT Head Office at admin@ifut.ie with the details of your events so that we can share them.  Please provide us with details of your event by 30^th September.  Similarly, we ask Branches to share pictures of their events on all social media platforms with IFUT.

Finally, we include with this e-mail a copy of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ Ebook on Trade Unions and Mental Health and ask Branches to consider how we can incorporate mental health strategies within our work as trade unionists and in our engagement with your employer and with our members and potential members.