This Mental Health Awareness Week, we want to share something we believe, and increasingly, the evidence backs us up on it.
Places like ours matter for mental health. Not just for the faithful. For everyone.
St Katharine Cree sits on Leadenhall Street, surrounded by some of the most high-pressure workplaces in the world. The City of London is extraordinary: dynamic, global, full of talented people doing demanding things. It is also a place where stress, grief, uncertainty, and loneliness are carried quietly, often invisibly, by people who feel they cannot afford to show it.
We think that needs to change. And we think churches can help.
What Workplace Chaplaincy Actually Is
A few years ago, we established a workplace chaplaincy service. Our chaplains offer a confidential, non-judgemental listening ear to workers of any faith or none. Most are trained Mental Health First Aiders, skilled in supporting colleagues through bereavement, periods of pressure or stress, questions of purpose, and moments of transition.
As our Workplace Chaplaincy Development Coordinator, Revd David McCoulough, puts it: sometimes talking to someone one step removed from the situation is enough to start making sense of things, or to know what to do next. That simple offering of presence, time, and trust can make a profound difference.
Chaplains are not counsellors or therapists. They are trained and skilled listeners, and they can signpost people to whatever additional support is right for them. For senior leaders especially, having a confidential sounding board outside the organisation can be genuinely valuable. Using that resource is not a sign of weakness. It is good judgement.
We also offer one-off training courses on workplace wellbeing, including specialist training for line managers on supporting colleagues through bereavement. Death and grief are often the most difficult experiences for people to talk about at work, and many managers feel unsure how to help. We can equip your team with the skills and confidence to create a more bereavement-friendly workplace culture.
The Building Matters Too
New research from ChurchWorks and the Warm Welcome Campaign, funded by Historic England, adds another dimension to this picture. Their study found that 87% of people who visited a Warm Welcome Space said it improved their mental health. Spaces in heritage church buildings showed particular benefits: people described them as places of sanctuary, peace, and reflection. These are rare things in a fast-paced working city.
St Katharine Cree is one of those spaces. We are a registered Warm Welcome Space: open, free to enter, and genuinely welcoming to anyone who wants a moment to pause.
Whether you step in for five minutes of quiet, or want to speak with a chaplain about something heavier, there is no pressure and no agenda.
The building itself, with its history stretching back to 1630, offers something that is hard to find elsewhere in EC3: stillness.
An Invitation to Employers
Wellbeing at work has become mainstream, and rightly so. Chaplaincy sits alongside and complements Employee Assistance Programmes, mental health champions, and other provision. If you are thinking about how to build a more supportive culture, we would love to have a conversation.
David McCoulough is available to discuss bringing chaplaincy into your workplace, to arrange training, or simply to explore what that might look like. You can reach him at david@stkatharinecree.org.
And if you are someone who is quietly carrying something right now, please don’t suffer in silence. We are here, on Leadenhall Street, and we are not going anywhere.
To speak with a chaplain or find out more about our corporate chaplaincy service, visit stkatharinecree.org/city-chaplaincy
