This Mental Health Awareness Week, Electrical Industries Charity want to start the conversation and get our industry talking about mental health and what it means to us. While people are becoming more open in their discussion about mental health we’re still not quite there. We’re used to telling everyone ‘we’re alright’ and for a lot of us we may feel anxious about asking colleagues, friends or even family how they really are.

The powerLottery is The Electrical Industries Charity biggest revenue stream and helps to support our industry colleagues who need a hand up in difficult times. Every single month the powerLottery makes 40 players a little bit better off with 40 cash prizes to be won. The powerLottery also makes our sector a little bit better off as every ticket sale supports key charitable services to our industry. By playing powerLottery you’re giving someone CV support, financial aid, emergency housing, bereavement counselling, mental health support or a hot meal. The powerLottery also helps industry colleagues who may be struggling with undiagnosed conditions.

May is mental health month and with everything going on in the world it's important we look after our mental health, now more than ever. 1 in 3 of the cases EIC support involve mental health and every year the Charity awards thousands of counselling and therapy grants. We all have mental health and 1 in 4 people within the UK will struggle with a mental health disorder within their lifetime.

Parenthood is difficult. Although there are a million and one books out there every child is different and if your child starts to exhibit signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder you may not know where to turn. The Electrical Industries Charity launched their Employee and Family Support Programme to assist you in supporting you and your family. Carole, an electrical distributor employee, and her husband Martin contacted the Charity about their daughter Katie when Katie first started primary school.

The powerLottery is the biggest and best way you can support our industry colleagues in need today. With 40 cash prizes to be won every year and £10,000 up for grabs bi-yearly this is the biggest sector lottery ever! The powerLottery helps to fund essential services to those who need a hand-up. Those like Jenny who contacted the Electrical Industries Charity after discovering she was being considered for redundancy.

In April, The Electrical Industries Charity is looking at caring for elderly parents. It’s a fact of life that we will all have to care for our parents in some capacity at some point. We often feel it is our duty to care for them in their twilight years as they took such care for us in our formative years.

The Electrical Industries Charity support our employees and their families with the Employee Assistance Programme and its four branches - Pensioner Support Programme, Employee Family Programme, Apprentice Support Programme and Practical Participation Programme. Using the Pensioner Support Programme the Charity were able to support Christine and her mother.

Did you know that powerLottery, Electrical Industries Charity’s (EIC) main source of fundraising, has been revamped to give you even more chances to win cash prizes every month? And did you know powerLottery still costs as little as £1 a month to take part? If you haven’t signed up yet you’re missing out on the opportunity to win up to £10,000. But powerLottery is about a lot more than big prizes; the money it raises provides vital assistance to people in the electrical sector who are suffering hardship in their lives.

We can give a hand-up to everyone in our industry.

Will you help us reach those in need? Learn how you can get involved.