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Ella Best
PA at Kier Group (KME - Kier Mechanical & Electrical)
Ella Best is a self-motivated and proactive Personal Assistant with a solid background in managing teams, including director level individuals.
With a proven track record, Ella was among the select few retained as one of 6 PAs within AB-InBev during the SABMiller-AB-InBev takeover, standing out from 25 internal applicants.
Her strengths lie in efficient time management and the seamless handling of day-to-day administrative tasks for teams, always ready to tackle new challenges in her role.
Ella pursued her education at Guildford College, Christ's College Guildford, and furthered her studies by earning a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology from The Open University.
She has held key roles such as Executive Administrator at Willmott Dixon, Personal Assistant (Business Continuity) at Anheuser-Busch InBev, and previously served as a Personal Assistant and Assistant Administrator at SABMiller.
Highlights
Yesterday was #InternationalDogDay, and to celebrate a group of us from Kier Mechanical & Electrical (KME) in Basingstoke went for a group dog walk before work this morning!
Taking a little time out for a wellbeing walk really set us up for the first day back after a lovely bank holiday, quashing those bank holiday blues!
Say hello to the KME canines, aren't they all cute?
(try not to judge my photography too harshly, getting six dogs to look at the camera was no mean feat)
#KME #Wellbeing #DogsOfLinkedIn
Kirsty Buchanan Josh Betts
As #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek draws to a close for 2024, I wanted to share my story.
Many of my connections know me personally, and will know that I'm no stranger to struggles with my mental wellbeing.
I'd say I've been an anxious person for as long as I can remember. Things that others seem to do with ease, fill me with fear. However, up until 2016 I'd managed my anxiety and lived a fairly normal life.
In 2016 I suffered a breakdown. At the time I would have described it as sudden, but when I reflect on it now there were signs I wasn't coping for years preceding it. I went from being a functioning human, with a full time job, mortgage, and hobbies to someone who couldn't bring myself to get out of bed.
I lived (or existed) like this for months, refusing to seek help because I was adamant I shouldn't need to. There was nothing in my life that I deemed significant enough to have warranted this breakdown, so I didn't want to take up resources from those that had a 'real' reason to need help. There was also the stigma associated with needing medication. There are very few other diagnosable medical conditions that carry the same stigma when it comes to medicating them.
After about six months off work, unable to function, I hit a new low. I had thoughts of suicide. My parents took me to A&E the same day, and my medication was started.
I won't pretend the start of the medication was easy, it got worse before it got better. However, it allowed me to live a little more normally whilst I waited for therapy. I knew it would be a two-pronged approach to get me fully functioning again.
Why am I telling you all this? I guess for a few reasons:
- There is NO shame in needing help
- There is NO shame in needing medication. I am not ashamed to say I'm still taking my antidepressants eight years on.
- I guarantee those around you would prefer to support you now, than find out you were struggling too late.
- Your life matters, and it can get better
I know the NHS are struggling with resources, and this unfortunately very much includes mental health services, but that doesn't mean there's no support for you out there. Here are a few free resources you can use if you can't afford to go private:
- Samaritans 116 123
- SANELine 0300 304 7000 National Suicide Prevention Hotline 0800 689 5652
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) 0800 58 58 58
- Dont want to speak on the phone? Text SHOUT to 85258
- Switchboard, for the LGBTQ+ community 0300 330 0630
You can get better, you just need to make that first step towards the rest of your life.
A more lightheaded thing to end my post, almost as effective as my pill-form antidepressant, is my dog. Again, those who know me personally know I'm a bit too obsessed with him, but I can honestly say I owe him my life. He's seen me through my darkest days, because if a dog tells you he needs to poop, you bet you're going to get out of that bed!!
