While the outlook has improved and there has been a surge of interest again, this tricky period has had an impact on the mental health of many of the mortgage advisers I have spoken to.
Advisers so often put their clients’ needs first yet they can be left unsupported themselves.
For a long time, our employee wellbeing programme Thrive has been instrumental in making sure those directly employed by us have access to resources and support to help them if they encounter mental health issues.
However, the stresses and the strains that the coronavirus pandemic brought with it made it the right time to open these resources to the wider adviser community too.
Having listened to what was playing on the minds of advisers we created a hub which houses a range of materials to help support them from a business and personal point of view, as well as hosting regular seminars.
We are also looking to take it further by giving advisers the opportunity to get counselling from mental health experts.
Dealing with isolation
Some of the resources available on the hub include advice on working and parenting; staying connected and even help from an ex-submariner who provides tips and tricks for working while isolated.
Isolation is one of the most common complaints we hear as advisers are missing out on the client interactions, which may well have been the driver for joining the profession in the first place.
Naturally, this is an unprecedented and difficult to predict time for all, but clients continue to look to their advisers for answers.
To try and arm advisers with the tools to best answer these queries, our behavioural economic experts have produced content and run seminars which delve into how best to communicate to clients among such uncertainty.
Understand what you can control
Another common worry from principals of mortgage advice firms is to do with their business expansion and diversification plans and whether these will have to be put on hold or dashed altogether due to the crisis.
Fortunately, throughout the pandemic we have been able to keep our Financial Adviser School open enabling people to take additional qualifications so that, as we move out of the pandemic, the clients who are perhaps choosing not to move house can still be serviced with wealth advice.
One of the key pieces of information on the hub, which resonates with me is that we must learn to understand what we can control and what is completely out of our control otherwise the looming uncertainty can just paralyse progress and be hugely detrimental to our mental health.
If we do so, the industry can move out of this crisis stronger than before.
