A Derbyshire company has trained a fleet of employees as mental health first aiders to support the rising numbers of people experiencing mental distress in today’s world.
Eighteen members of staff at Lubrizol, in Hazelwood, have qualified for the voluntary role which means the company now has one mental health first aider for every 20 employees.
The team can be approached confidentially by those with conditions like depression, anxiety or stress and are trained to be on the look-out for changes in colleagues’ behaviour which may indicate a deterioration in mental wellbeing.
The timing has never been more important – almost every member of the 380 workforce is temporarily working from home during the country’s enforced lockdown and the isolation and worries associated with the pandemic are likely to exacerbate existing mental health problems and increase the chance of new ones.
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To support staff, the mental health first aiders are available via email, skype and mobile phone and they are operating a buddy system to support each other if the pressure becomes too much.
Kelly Parker, who works as a mechanical testing administrator, said: “I have been a qualified first aider for around seven years and I wanted to expand on this by offering the same service for mental and emotional needs.
“To qualify we all had two days training and learned about common mental health issues like depression and anxiety as well as the signs of more complex issues like bipolar or schizophrenia.
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“Part of the role is about breaking down taboos – people hear the words mental health and their guard immediately goes up. Often by the time people go off work the problem has become quite serious – we’re trained to spot the signs early enough to hopefully support before things get to this stage.
“We have contacted every member of staff during lockdown, while we are not working in our normal way, to let them know we are here. It’s vitally important that people stay connected, stay active, eat well and look at what they can do if they need a boost.
“Isolation is a very real risk for a lot of us at the moment and although the established communication method may be to send an email or text, talking on the phone or skype offers so much more – and it will benefit ourselves and the people we are reaching out to.
“Recognising stress at a time like this is vital. We aren’t accessing our usual social activities which help keep many people on an even keel and it helps to see this as a different period of time in our life and not necessarily a bad one – even if we didn’t choose it.”
The national training body, Mental Health First Aid England, said 140,000 people were trained in 2019 – the most ever in a single year, from local hairdressers to employees in global corporations.
Nationally, almost half a million people in Britain have now been through an MHFA programme – about one in every 100 adults.
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The role of the mental health first aiders includes promoting good mental health and wellbeing awareness and supporting colleagues when they approach them. They are not counsellors, psychologists or experts, but simply first responder “listeners” who can signpost services.
Kelly added: “Some people may just need a friendly chat or it could be providing a higher level of support when needed. For this we have been trained to approach the person, assess and assist with any crisis; listen and communicate non-judgementally and give support and information.
“We have been taught how to recognise when people may benefit from support and how to reach out in the correct manner. Not everyone recognises when they are struggling, it can soon just become the normal way for them to feel, sometimes it is easier for others to recognise it and sensitively bring it to their attention and work with them to get any support they may need.
“It’s important to remember that we are not counsellors, just as medical first aiders are not doctors, but we can offer signposting to another service such as a GP or counselling.”
In the UK, one in four people suffers with mental health conditions every year, yet 75 per cent receive no support or treatment.
Lubrizol has had a long commitment to supporting staff with mental health and the company’s occupational health team have a wealth of resources available to help ensure that pressures of life and work do not adversely affect people’s performance and happiness.
Awareness was also improved when the company chose Derbyshire MIND as it’s chosen charity for two years – raising funds to help it support local people living with conditions such as anxiety and depression.
The suggestion to train staff as mental health first aiders first came from manager Mike Pritchett, who is alive to the importance of good mental health thanks to his upbringing.
He said: “My mother was a psychiatric nurse, so when I was growing up there was no taboo around talking about mental health, it’s something I’ve always felt comfortable with.
“When we first asked for volunteers to do the training we were overwhelmed with applications from staff, so we were able to select people of different ages and ensure there was a nice spread across departments on site.
“If a member of staff is struggling, for whatever reason, they may not always feel comfortable talking to their direct line manager about it – so this way we ensure staff have someone completely impartial to talk to who can signpost them to help, or just lend a listening ear.
“Positive mental health allows people to realise their full potential, cope with the stresses of life, work productively and make meaningful contributions.
“A business that wants a healthy workforce needs to set the right culture. The mental health first aiders have been extremely well received at Hazelwood – and I have no doubt that during lockdown the team will be busier than usual – so I think this will be rolled out at other sites in the UK.”
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