Alliance Healthcare Supports Colleagues’ Mental Wellbeing by Launching Mental Health First Aiders

Alliance Healthcare Supports Colleagues’ Mental Wellbeing by Launching Mental Health First Aiders

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Alliance Healthcare has introduced its first cohort of employee mental health first aiders.

The Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England accredited training will help to identify people who may require help and signpost them to appropriate support services.

The first group of 24 took part in a series of virtual training programmes, which covered the issues that impact and relate to people’s mental health. These included active listening, starting a conversation about poor mental health, offering reassurance and sign posting to appropriate professional help.

Vicki Wilder, Senior HR Business Partner, who is leading on the training programme said: “We have a duty of care to support our workforce and we are committed to providing appropriate help for poor mental health, it’s equally as important as physical health. We also recognise that the pandemic has taken its toll on people, but with the introduction of mental health first aiders colleagues will have an additional avenue to be able to reach out for support.”

Alliance Healthcare will continue its mental health first aider training and by the end of 2021 every employee will have access to a trained mental health first aider.

Approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year1.

One in six people will also report experiencing a common mental health problem (like anxiety and depression) in any given week in England2.

1 Source: Mind, June 2020

2 Source: Mind, June 2020