New training initiative helps firms address mental health and wellbeing

Mental ill-health is responsible for almost 13 percent of all sickness absence days in the UK, while it has been shown that UK businesses could save up to £8 billion per year through better support in the workplace. To empower workers and employers across the country, iHASCO has launched a new campaign aimed at removing the stigma that surrounds mental ill-health in the workplace. Six brand new courses are now available through the eLearning provider, including a short stress awareness course.

The courses are designed to help organisations instil better management practices in the workplace and cultivate an open and honest culture that makes employees feel they can speak up. Each course provides workers with tools, guidance and extra resources to manage their mental wellbeing on a daily basis.

The growing mental wellbeing crisis is not limited to one single industry, but some of the most worrying statistics come from the care, education and construction sectors. 78 percent of care workers report that they suffer from anxiety as a result of their work and 74 percent of education professionals agree that they lack enough guidance about mental health and wellbeing at work. Meanwhile in the construction industry, mental ill-health accounted for over 1,400 suicides during a five-year period.

“One of the biggest challenges with mental ill-health is fighting the stigma that is associated with it,” says Lottie Galvin, Mental Health First Aider at iHASCO. “People don’t hesitate to seek out help for physical pain or problems, yet so many of us ignore emotional and mental ill-health issues – or we feel too embarrassed, confused or scared to talk about them. Our courses are designed to help organisations to promote positive health and wellbeing to their employees.”

The new range of courses encourage a much-needed change of mindset towards mental health and enable organisations to create mentally healthy workplaces. All six courses are CPD Accredited and the general health and stress awareness courses are approved by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.