Virgin Media’s Connections for Good Campaign

Virgin Media has led a campaign for mental health and has brought together several experts to discuss how to care for your mind.

It started with Richard Hogan, Director of The Therapy Institute and Family Psychologist on Ireland AM to discuss anxiety in children and ways to help them cope with the issues they may face. The following Monday’s Ireland AM saw Gerry Hussey, one of Ireland’s leading health and performance coaches, who spoke about the importance of reflection. He states you must pause and reflect on the positive aspects of your life and that we do not do it enough, he also discussed his book ‘Awaken your Power Within’ and also went through a breathing meditation for relaxation.

Hussey was joined by Hilary Young, a Carlow-based mental health nurse who gave an interactive session on slipping with the show’s presenters to highlight the benefits this type of workout offers for mental health and well-being. On Wednesday’s Ireland AM they had leading mental health expert Dr Harry Barry, who shared advice on how to cope with and adapt to change and develop yourself, he also discussed some key points from his book ‘Embracing Change’.

The last of the show on Friday’s Ireland AM had Georgie Crawford who spoke on The Good Glow Wellness Programme, a holistic health guide that gives you the tools to “lead a happy, healthy and more fulfilled life”.

Virgin Media Reaching Out

Virgin Media’s Connections for Good Campaign features several areas including ‘our society’, ‘our environment’ and ‘our governance’.

Our Society pertains to helping communities and the Corporate Social Responsibility programmes Virgin has. It states that over 40% of its staff has participated in at least one CSR programmes during 2019. They work with small and medium Irish businesses, they have charitable efforts in education, digital skills and workforce development.

They have many programmes like ‘Time TO Read’, ‘Age Action’s Getting Started Computer Training Programme, Coding and CoderDojo etc. They also support several services like Internet Hotline, Samaritans Helpline, National Parents Council Primary Helpline and World Mental Health Day.

Their Our Environment page shows they are using 100% renewable energy, they are committed to lowering their footprint by another 50% by 2030, and they were one of the first to introduce free cooling units to data centres etc allowing for a reduction of 50% of air-con consumption. Their Our Governance page also details their business ethics, areas of focus like data and privacy, climate change etc.

For more information, check out this link and download their manifesto.