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MHFA England launches Startwell, a new diagnostic service, unlocking the value of positive workplace mental health. The programme is born from our years of experience providing expert consultancy and training. Startwell is a people-first programme. We will work with your organisation to map and research workplace wellbeing and provide a roadmap to support you to create a thriving culture.
Startwell launches in response to feedback from MHFA England clients. Many want to transform workplace mental health and wellbeing but don’t know where to start. This is a critical time for employers and employees alike. The pandemic has shifted the way we work and created a surge in demand for greater mental health support.
At the same time, worries over returning to the workplace and issues such as the ‘Great Resignation’, are creating fresh challenges for business leaders. Despite these challenges, we have an opportunity to rethink our approach by improving our ways of working and creating thriving workplace cultures.
Startwell provides a tailored consultation. It does so by working alongside clients, delivering a collaborative service with a human focus. It is suitable for organisations of all sizes, from SMEs finding their feet to large enterprise organisations with complex logistical challenges.
The immersive programme begins with extensive research, including sentiment surveys, focus groups, data deep dives and stakeholder interviews. The result is an honest picture of the collective mental health of an organisation.
Following the diagnostic process, the Startwell “Mental Health Playbook” offers clear recommendations for sustainable culture change. These recommendations will help guide the overall organisational strategy and set out the necessary tools needed to achieve it. Depending on the research outcomes, it could suggest ideas for training, motivating the workforce, tackling stigma, improving employee communications and more.
Commenting on the launch, Simon Blake, Chief Executive of MHFA England said:
“For 15 years MHFA England has been in workplaces delivering Mental Health First Aid and mental health training. We have always been clear that any training must be part of a whole organisation approach to promoting mental health and workplace wellbeing. During that time, we have learnt enormous amounts about how mental health and performance can fuel each other to drive business success. As a social enterprise we are single mindedly focused on improving the mental health of the nation. Through Startwell we want to share our learning and expertise to help drive business success.”
MFHA England client Mandy Stevens, Head of HR at IVC Evidensia, who has piloted the Startwell service, said:
“Startwell has such a great structure, and we were given so much support on our wellbeing journey. We would recommend the process to other organisations. We have noticed a shift in culture, our employees are now more open about their mental health, and it is helping to remove the stigma.
“We went through a lengthy process with the Startwell team at MHFA England so they could completely understand our business and what we were looking to get from the programme. We needed help to engage with our employees to understand what they were feeling. With over 14,000 staff across the UK, we would have struggled firstly to reach them and secondly to ask the right questions. Our key stakeholders met with our dedicated Startwell consultant who then surveyed our employees for feedback. This was followed up with a playbook of wellbeing recommendations.
“Since then, we have implemented training for staff and a large majority of practice leaders are now trained as Mental Health First Aiders. Quarterly wellbeing symposiums now take place, relevant and up to date wellbeing content has been added to our intranet and pocket cards have been created with top tips for employees.”