Small actions, shared impact: digiLab’s take on Mental Health Awareness Week 2026

At digiLab, we spend our working lives thinking about uncertainty. It's the thread that runs through everything we build: helping decision-makers act with confidence when the stakes are high and the future is hard to predict. 

Mental health, it turns out, isn't so different. None of us move through life with complete information about how we're going to feel next week, or how the person sitting next to us is really doing today. What we can do is take action – small, consistent, deliberate – to look after ourselves and each other along the way. That's exactly what the Mental Health Foundation is asking us to focus on this year. Awareness has come a long way, but real change comes when we take action too. So this Mental Health Awareness Week, we wanted to share the practical actions we take to support good mental health at digiLab.

Action for yourself

The campaign asks each of us to find one thing that boosts our mental health. Not a complete life overhaul – just one positive action that works for you. Here's what we offer to help with that:

• Get on your bike. Our Cycle to Work Scheme, run in partnership with the Green Commute Initiative, lets eligible employees save between 28% and 47% on a new bike and accessories through salary sacrifice. digiLab covers the upfront cost (up to £2,500), and you repay it gross over 12 months — less tax, less NI, more miles. The scheme is open to anyone past their probation period, and you can spend it at any participating shop, including Exeter favourites Saddles and Paddles, The Bike Shed, and Leisure-Life South West. Cycling to work isn't just good for your legs – there's a well-evidenced link between regular movement and better mood, lower stress, and sharper thinking.
• Snack smarter. Fresh fruit and healthy snacks are restocked weekly in the office. A small thing, but the kind that adds up – what we eat shapes how we feel, and it's easier to make the better choice when it’s already in the kitchen.
• Talk to someone – confidentially. Our Employee Assistance Programme is available to everyone at digiLab, any time, no manager approval needed. It offers confidential support on everything from stress and anxiety to financial worries, family issues, and legal questions. 
• Build a To-Learn list, not just a To-Do list. Growth is good for wellbeing – there's real research behind the link between learning new things and feeling better about yourself and your work. At digiLab, we actively encourage each team member to maintain a "To-Learn" list alongside the daily grind, whether that's courses, webinars, a paper you've been meaning to read, or having a coffee with an internal expert who's already mastered something you want to learn. Bring the proposal to your line manager with a rough sense of cost and benefit, and we'll work out together how to make it happen. We don't have an infinite budget, but we do fund high-impact opportunities wherever we can.

Action for someone else

The environment we live and work in shapes how we feel. At digiLab we take real responsibility for building places where our people can thrive. Here’s a few of the ways we do that:

• Keeping the door open. Booking a 1-to-1 with a manager, or a timeslot with HR, is deliberately simple and accessible. We place a strong emphasis on open, honest conversation, and on making sure it's easy to reach out, be heard, and get support whenever you need it.
• Actually spending time together. We organise regular socials across the year – digiKayaks and paddleboarding days on the Quay, lunch clubs, scenic walks, seasonal Halloween and Christmas parties, and the occasional pizza evening or games night. None of this is compulsory, and none of it is work. It's just time together, which is one of the simplest and most underrated things a team can do for its collective mental health.
• Noticing and asking. This one isn't a policy – it's a culture point. "How are you, really?" is a question worth asking, and worth leaving the space for someone to properly answer. If you take one action for someone else this week, make it that one.

Action for all of us

The Mental Health Foundation reminds us that individual actions matter, but they're only part of the story. 

So here's our ask – of ourselves, and of anyone reading this. Between 11–17th May, find your one thing. Cycle in one day. Take a colleague for a proper coffee and actually listen to the answer. Book the 1-to-1 you've been putting off. Add something to your To-Learn list.

None of these actions, taken alone, will fix everything. But taken together – across a team and a company – small, consistent actions are how real change actually happens.