Feature: Apprenticeships, Skills & Training
Training for mental health first aiders
Jo Roy (pictured), licensed Mental Health First Aid instructor and founder of Red Owl HR, gives her top tips for introducing mental health first aid training to the workplace.
P
oor mental health at work costs the UK around 15.4 million working days a year and one in four people experience mental health issues each year.
If we want to improve this, and build safer, healthier
workplaces, we need to value mental health as highly as physical wellbeing. By addressing this issue, companies will benefit not only
from less absence, but greater productivity, improved loyalty and goodwill, better teamwork and more positive working relationships. Selecting the right employees to attend a two-day
mental health first aid course, which provides a certificate that is valid for three years, is one of the steps that businesses can take to provide more support. By training as mental health first aiders, employees gain
the confidence to talk to others in difficult moments. They learn how to support colleagues and signpost services that could make all the difference, and to understand the importance of self-care, which is vital when you are looking after other people.
When more of us start looking out for colleagues, asking
how they are and offering support as needed, the healthier our workplaces will become. If you are starting out on a journey to improving mental health support in your organisation, here are my tips:
1
Assess your culture - If you have an open culture, but nobody is trained in mental health first aid, or staff are
trained to support mental wellbeing, but your culture doesn’t support good mental health, you are less likely to succeed. For mental health first aid training to bring lasting benefits, it cannot take place in isolation. Making sure that your culture supports mental wellbeing includes full support from the very top of the business, openness and acceptance between colleagues and a willingness to listen and learn on all sides.
2
Choose the right people - Your first thought might be to give more senior members of staff mental health first aid training, but this may not be the best
Winter 2020 CHAMBERconnect 63
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