Mindful Employer of the Quarter

fonemedia has been named the first Mindful Employer of the Quarter for 2026-27 by Mindful Employer Leeds. As a signatory of the Mindful Employer Charter, the team has spent the past year building up the mental health support on offer internally — recognition wasn't the goal, but it's a welcome moment to look back on how that progress happened.

Everyday conversations make the difference

Much of the credit goes to the colleagues who show up for one another day to day, led by the company's Mental Health First Aider, Hayley Nunan. Hayley has helped normalise conversations about mental health at fonemedia — not through one-off awareness campaigns, but through regular check-ins, timely resources, and space for people to learn together rather than navigate things alone. Over the past year she's organised wellbeing sessions with speakers from Leeds Mind and encouraged the team to attend webinars together to build a shared understanding of good mental health support.

The impact

Colleagues describe feeling supported, informed and connected — a culture that didn't come from a policy document or a poster, but from consistent, human effort repeated week after week.

What fonemedia learned along the way

Consistency beats intensity: small, regular check-ins do more for a team than a single annual event, and people need to know support is always available rather than switched on for a campaign. Having a visible, trained Mental Health First Aider like Hayley gives people an obvious person to turn to and signals that the conversation is welcome. Bringing in outside expertise, such as sessions with Leeds Mind, adds knowledge the team wouldn't otherwise have access to, and learning together — attending a webinar as a group, for example — opens up conversations that wouldn't happen otherwise.

Thank you

Thanks to Mindful Employer Leeds for the recognition and to Leeds Mind for their sessions — and above all, thank you to Hayley and the wider team for looking out for one another.