The Gift of Gratitude

The Gift of Gratitude

Before I joined TAP as Marketing Director, my work focused on providing Mental Health training through my own personal and professional experience. In 2017 I was diagnosed with a Stage 4 brain tumour, in 2019 I became an instructor for Mental Health First Aid England and started running workshops. When TAP approached me, I snapped up the offer to join as it provided another strong way to drive positivity with individuals and communities.

TAP is currently supporting the public and key workers in different ways but it is important to know that TAP is not going away after COVID19. TAP’s Vision has never changed and will continue:

To create a positive world where giving and receiving thanks is the norm not the exception

We are now refocusing on our core business: to onboard schools and healthcare organisations to the TAP social thanking platform.

I want to share 6 reasons why TAP is relevant, with some proof.

Firstly, some science: did you know that the neuro chemical in our body ‘Dopamine’ is one of the key drivers for our ‘Happiness’? It is a neurotransmitter that connects our brain and cells through nerve signals. Dopamine makes our body come alive when we receive rewards and enjoyment. The more we feel it, the more likely we will continue down that path.

To actively drive Dopamine in ourselves, we need to find the actions that we enjoy. Each of these actions have 6C’s:

  1. Celebration,
  2. Certainty,
  3. Confidence,
  4. Connection,
  5. Contribution and
  6. Control/Choice.

TAP is a core driver of this through the Power of Gratitude.

1) CELEBRATION.

On our Digital Thanking Wall - there are 47 mentions of ‘Well done’ from Thankers who celebrate the work that workers do. Here are some examples:


To: Wyndford Locks Care Home

Well done to everyone doing your best to look after the residents. Well done each and everyone one of you! You all have a heart of gold! Please stay safe.

Anonymous


To: Egremont Primary School, Wallasey

Well done to the amazing staff at Egremont Primary School. Providing care for our key worker children and meals for the most vulnerable in our community.

Anonymous

Imagine you work at these locations and read these messages - wouldn’t it give you a smile?

2) CERTAINTY.

COVID19 has taken a large proportion of certainty away from us all. Through this confusion, communities are grabbing onto the ‘certainty’ that giving and receiving of gratitude provides. This is clearly demonstrated in the campaigns around the UK, such as Clap for Our Carers, NHS Charities Together, Makeable, Captain Tom Moore raising over £30million. We will continue to provide certainty to the Thankers and Unsung Heroes organisation that use TAP during and after COVID19.

3) CONFIDENCE.

This gives the power to make a difference. A good example is that TAP has onboarded schools during the COVID 19 crisis: Eyres Monsell Primary School and King Richard III Infant and Nursery School. They have onboarded onto TAP’s social thanking platform which enables parents and staff to send personal messages of thanks to everyone working at these schools.

You can read this through the lovely quote from the Head Teacher, Lou Harrison at King Richard III Infant and Nursery School:

The positive mental health and well-being of our children, families and staff team are top priorities for our school. This means that they surround and underpin all of our other improvement priorities in school. I see TAP as a natural extension of this, in providing parents with an easy way to send private and positive messages of thanks to my team.

We have also gained confidence from the uptake of our story with the media. We have been interviewed in over 15 BBC Radio stations under the ‘BBC Make a Difference campaign’, as well as reaching millions of people around the UK through our TV advertising campaign.

4) CONNECTION.

It runs through our social animal instincts to socialise and support each other. We rely on speaking to others and when we don’t share, we encourage negatives thoughts in our mind which can lead to mental illness. As TAP is a social thanking platform it makes it easier for anyone to connect with the individuals and organisations and share a personal messages of gratitude. As part of our onboarding programme we have provided Mental Health workshops to school staff. The connection that it gives between attendees and TAP is strong and relevant.

5) CONTRIBUTION.

TAP is one way to facilitate gratitude. One of our key goals is to make sure the recipient receives the message of thanks. Onboarding makes this an easy and quick way to provide this. Here is an example of the result of Contribution with Worthing Hospital, West Sussex


To: Messages of Thanks from a member of public

Thank you for all your hard work and helping me for over a decade. Also for all your efforts in these difficult times.

Anonymous


To: Response from Worthing Hospital to TAP

Thank you for your email and what a wonderful one to read. I will share with the relevant team and thank you once again it really does mean a lot and please keep well.

Anonymous

6) CONTROL/CHOICE.

Just saying the words of gratitude empowers us to make a positive difference, to both the receiver of thanks, and to the giver of thanks. It is anyone’s ‘choice’ to make and a positive way to support those around us. This is a strong demonstration, from a NHS worker to the whole Education sector:


To: The Education Sector

Without the support of the education system, I couldn’t work in my NHS role. You are vital and incredible. We owe you.

Anonymous

If you work at a Healthcare or Education organisation and want to use TAP please get in touch with james@thankandpraise.com, or if you are a member of public and want to share a message, just visit our website - www.thankandpraise.com.

I’ll end the blog from another Head Teacher, Kerry Hill on her LinkedIn profile:


Study by Curry et al (2018) and Cotney et al (2010) shows that people who carry out acts of kindness towards others had improved well-being and those acts of kindness could be big or small.