Did you know?
Stress, anxiety and depression are the biggest cause of sickness absence in our society. Mental ill health is responsible for 91 million working days lost every year.
Mental ill health costs UK employers £34.9 billion each year
(Diagram adapted from Centre for Mental Health, 2017: Mental health at work: The business costs ten years on)
The Centre for Mental Health estimates that mental ill health costs UK employers £34.9 billion each year, but simple steps to improve the management of mental health in the workplace will allow employers to save 30% or more of these costs.
Would you know how to help someone who is struggling just to come into work each day?
We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health but we don’t always take the best care of it. People accept that physical injuries and illnesses are part of every day working life and so we have First Aiders in our workplaces to help people.
However mental ill health can strike at any time and can affect people from all walks of life in all sorts of ways but we don’t always have Mental Health First Aiders to help people. The HSE have now included Mental Health First Aid in with the same category as physical First Aid and recommended that every workplace should have trained Mental Health First Aiders.
Although things are improving, stigma still exists around mental ill health. As a society, we don’t tend to know how to take care of our mental health like we do our physical health. This means that people may not know how to support a friend, family member or colleague experiencing a mental health issue, or where to go for support with their own mental health.
How to become a Mental Health First Aider
At Albany Training we work with MHFA (Mental Health First Aid England) and FAIB (First Aid Industry Body) to provide a training course which teaches people how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.
The course won’t teach you to be a therapist, but it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis – and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
You’ll learn to recognise warning signs of mental ill health, and develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone while keeping yourself safe.
You’ll also learn how to empower someone to access the support they might need for recovery or successful management of symptoms. This could include self-help books or websites, accessing therapy services through their GP, their school or place of work, online self-referral, support groups, and more.
What’s more, you’ll gain an understanding of how to support positive wellbeing and tackle stigma in the world around you. It may be just the course you need to improve productivity and wellness within your own company. Remember – a happy workforce will produce a better quality and quantity of work.
Our courses are run on your premises from a minimum of 8 staff to a maximum of 16 staff.