A LEADING member of Habito’s senior management team has shared her personal and professional insights into post-natal depression for the latest Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC) interview series.

Penny Desborough, Vice President of Customer Compliance and Culture at Habito, hopes that sharing her experiences will inspire other professionals struggling with their own mental health as well as employers looking to provide best possible support.

Penny talked to MIMHC Co-founder and Group Sales Director at Crystal Specialist Finance, Jason Berry as part of the not-for-profit organisation’s latest “Keeping the Mental Health Conversation Going” video. The forum provides a platform for industry leaders to share insights and strategies for promoting best practice mental wellbeing in the workplace.

In a far-reaching conversation, Penny highlights how her personal experiences illustrate the importance of adopting “a bespoke approach” within workplaces that’s tailored to enable colleagues by responding to their individual needs.

“Prior to having poor mental health myself, I really didn’t understand the issues that people go through,” explained Penny.

“Then, following the birth of my daughter in 2018, I had post-natal depression and that completely changed my perspective on mental health.

“After that, I wanted to ensure that there was somewhere that people can come to chat through any issues that are affecting them at Habito.

“As a business, I want to ensure that we’re providing colleagues with the support that they require both in times of crisis as well as those other points when it becomes necessary.”

Penny subsequently discusses how the unstinting support of her family, CEO and the NHS combined with talking therapy, hypnotherapy and exercise – specifically the camaraderie she discovered at the heart of her local netball team – helped with her postnatal depression.

MIMHC’s “Keep the Conversation Going” series was established specifically to inspire positive change and create supportive environments where individuals feel comfortable seeking help and support.

MIMHC was established to create a culture of openness and compassion within the mortgage industry by spreading a message of support and understanding while initiating meaningful discussions.

Jason added: “It’s becoming increasingly clear to me from these conversations that super-successful people are not immune from their own mental health setbacks.

“But as long as they manage those setbacks in the most appropriate way, they do not prove any barrier to future success.

“These personal stories are a constant source of inspiration – and it’s equally inspirational to learn that appropriate support is now increasingly being put in place by leadership teams within our sector to help colleagues precisely when they need it most.”

In forthcoming videos, Jason will be chatting with key figures across the mortgage industry about how they keep the mental health conversation going in their businesses.

(MIMHC) is a not-for-profit organisation that was founded to raise awareness of employees’ mental health and how the industry can take positive action to improve it.

MIMHC is made up of 7 co-founding firms plus over 100 signatory companies across the mortgage industry that represent over 20,000 individuals. All these firms agree to be bound by MIMHC’s 6 Governing Rules which apply best practice health and wellbeing guidelines and are summarised as ‘The MIMHC Charter’.