One of our
traders passed away unexpectedly this week and his family asked that instead of
flowers donations be made to Beyond Blue, the Australian organisation that
addresses depression, anxiety disorders and related mental disorders.
We are not
drawing any conclusions from the family’s request, there could be lots of
reasons for it, but it does cause us to consider whether more needs to be done
amongst QVM Traders to address mental health issues.
We are
currently in a very stressful environment. We have a retail revolution that is
causing great uncertainty worldwide. Closer to home we are going
through a market renewal during which there will be many uncertainties including
things like a shrinking market, lack of tenancy, and a range of changes to the
way we conduct business, and our lives.
We don't need to over react to this possibility, and finding others to blame
has little merit. But if traders are aware of the possibility of stress in our
own work environment and with our market neighbours then maybe there are
simple things we can do. RUOK is a good start.
Asking your
neighbours if they are OK is a good way of opening doors and listening. If there
are warning signs then the right action can be taken. Contacting BeyondBlue might also be a good start.
And maybe this is just the start of a bigger conversation.
By Greg
Smith.