ACCORDING TO THE NHS, ONE IN FOUR ADULTS EXPERIENCE MENTAL ILLNESS. WORKING CONDITIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT AT WORK CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH AND EQUALLY IMPACT ON THE ABILIT Y TO PERFORM AT WORK
HSE England, states that during 2017/18, stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 15.4 million days lost due to workrelated ill health, which equates to 25.8 days per worker.
Chemical and laundry engineering specialist Christeyns firmly believes it is part of an organisations’ responsibilities to take a proactive, preventive approach to employee mental ill health. Last year the firm spent time reviewing their mental health support offerings and policies, making the decision to invest a considerable portion of its HR budget in this important area.
“In our business, health and safety is an absolute priority,” states Christeyns HR manager Sarah Dufton. “Mental health wellbeing forms part of this agenda and is just as important as physical illness. As an employer, we have a large part to play in building awareness and understanding.”
There has been, and continues to be, a significant shift in the awareness and understanding of mental health and it is particularly prevalent in the mindset of the younger generation. We can expect to find a working population that are much more informed and empowered when it comes to discussing mental health and who expect to be supported.
“It is crucial that we ensure all members of our workforce are equally informed, and are able to understand and identify potential mental health issues,“ continues Sarah. “Although a lot of great work has been carried out in society to build awareness of mental health issues and their impact over recent years, we still, as individuals, tend to overlook or neglect our own mental health.”
Christeyns identified that within the company, confidence levels amongst colleagues were lower when dealing with mental health compared to physical health. This combined with the increasing occurrence of mental health issues in the business, triggered their review of processes and training in this arena.
“We identified several training activities, resources, and assistance programmes that we are now rolling out across the UK group of companies,” explains Sarah.
“The first part of this roll-out was to train mental health first aiders, (MHFAs), which we did in November 2018 and a further ten individuals will undergo similar training in Q2 2019.”
SARAH DUFTON, HR MANAGER CHRISTEYNS
The role of a MHFA in the workplace is to be a confidential point of contact for employees who are experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress.
MHFAs are valuable in providing early intervention help for someone who may be developing a mental health issue.
“My reason for volunteering was really simple,” states Debbie Sproul in Payroll.
“I have known quite a few people who have taken their own lives and if I could help prevent just one then for me it would be ‘job done’. I believe there is still a taboo surrounding mental health and by having MHFA’s we can help to break down these barriers and show people it is okay to talk about what’s going on in their head.”
Following the completion of the MHFA training, Christeyns will launch a timeline to build awareness for everyone in the business, with enhanced training for line managers and a mental health manual will be issued outlining related policies, assistance programmes, summary facts and useful information.
For many companies the challenge lies in bridging the gap between positive intent and meaningful action. Being aware of the issue and instigating open discussion is one thing but it is practical, actionable solutions that are required in order to gain results.
Christeyns is totally committed to taking action, demonstrating this with well-laid plans that are already reaping benefits. By the end of the year mental health will be a seamless part of company policy understood by all and not just a phrase used without context.
