Mental Health First Aid
May 4, 2022 : News
Mental Health – Maximillion
Mike McCloy has recently completed the Level 3 Mental Health First Aid at Work Qualification and we are passionate about building a strong culture of supporting our full-time team, event staff teams and trusted partners and suppliers.
Thank you to Hospitality Health and HITT Scotland for giving Mike this opportunity on a fully funded Mental Health and Wellbeing Course aimed at staff within the Hospitality and Tourism industry after the most difficult 24 months the industry has ever faced.
The Mental Health & Wellbeing programme follows on from a very successful Tourism & Hospitality Development Programme which was managed by HIT Scotland, where more than 2000 employees within the industry gained inspirational supervisory, management and leadership skills.
Mental Health – Thriving at Work
One in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point in their lifetime.
While mental health problems are common, most are mild, tend to be short-term and can be successfully treated using professional therapies, medication, self-help techniques or a combination of these treatment methods.
Mental Health is about how people think, feel and behave. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems. They are often a reaction to a difficult life event, such as bereavement, but can also be caused by work-related issues.
Work can also aggravate pre-existing conditions, and problems at work can bring on symptoms or make their effects worse.
Whether work is causing the mental health issue or aggravating it, employers have a legal responsibility to help their employees. Work-related mental health issues must be assessed to measure the levels of risk to staff. Where a risk is identified, steps must be taken to remove it, or reduce it as far as reasonably practicable.
In 2017, the government commissioned Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer (Chief Executive of Mind) to independently review the role employers can play to better support individuals with mental health conditions in the workplace.
The ‘Thriving at Work’ report sets out a framework of actions – called ‘Core Standards’ – that the reviewers recommend employers of all sizes can, and should put in place. The core standards have been designed to help employers improve the mental health of their workplace and enable individuals with mental health conditions to thrive.
Source: Nico Training Ltd www.nucotraining.com
First Aid for Mental Health
First Aid for mental health is the initial support provided to a person experiencing a mental health problem until professional help is received or until the crisis is resolved. We are spreading awareness about our approach to Mental Health First aid through our staff handbooks and Mike is running a session sharing more of the details from the course, which include:
- • What is mental health – an introduction & overview
- • Role of Mental Health First Aider
- • Mental Health Stigma
- • Mental Health in the Workplace
- • Building a positive mental health culture – Employer and Employee Roles
- • First Aid Action Plan
- • Mental Health Conditions – an overview
- • Mental Health Help Resource List
If you’d like to reach out and discuss any of this further you can email Mike on michael@maximillion.co.uk and he’ll be happy to share any wisdom he’s picked up so far that can signpost you to getting started with developing a positive mental health culture in your workplace.