Whilst organisations across the UK have been leveraging the value of mental health first aid for a number of years, the cultural sector has been a little slower to adopt.
Whilst there's no such thing as a 'solution' to the complex issue of supporting mental health at work, employers have found that by including mental health first aid in the mix, they are seeing some genuine results.
Yorkshire Water has trained over 700 of its employees in mental health first aid, including 290 managers alongside a number of other measures, including workshops on everything from resilience, to suicide prevention. They introduced this about three years ago and have seen a dramatic 48% reduction in referrals to their external counselling service. Big businesses such as PwC, WHSmith, Royal Mail and Thames Water also include mental health first aid in their workplace well-being programmes. Large cultural institutions are now jumping on board, and community arts organisations are also incorporating Mental Health First Aid into their staff and client support. NHS England, the body overseeing the NHS across the country, introduced mental health first aid for staff teams in January 2014, and sees it a having a very positive effect. “More than 80% of staff said that the support they receive from their colleagues is their most valued form of workplace support.” Sandra Winters, former Head of Wellbeing and Corporate Responsibility NHS England
The organisation gives mental health equal importance to physical health, and mental health first aid training is a key component of the organisation’s approach wellbeing. If you think it's time to join the mental health first aid workplace revolution, get in touch.