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To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, health and wellbeing magazine Happiful has this week published a feature exploring Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). Maurice Richmond, reporting for Happiful, looks at the disparity between physical and mental health first aid in the workplace, and the work MHFA England are doing to close this gap.
Speaking to Caroline Hounsell, Youth Lead and Director of Partnerships, Product Development and Training at MHFA England, the article looks at the rapid growth of MHFA England from just “three people sharing a desk” to a nationwide social enterprise with a network of over 1,800 instructors.
Richmond discusses how roughly 12.5 million working days are lost due to mental ill health – a far greater number than the amount lost due to physical injuries – and how having a Mental Health First Aider in the workplace could help to address this.
Highlighting an example of good workplace mental health awareness that went viral in 2017, the piece explains how CEOs and directors have an important role in leading from the top as the workplace wellbeing agenda gains momentum.
The article also includes an interview with MHFA instructor and Manager of Environment, Health and Safety Training at construction firm Lendlease, Paul Hay. Paul explains the significant rise in awareness and the positive culture change that Lendlease’s MHFA programme has helped to drive, with the organisation having trained around 350 people.
You can read the full article here.
To find out more about MHFA courses for your workplace visit: mhfaengland.org/organisations/workplace.