‘Humans are social animals, staring into a screen on Zoom is not enough…’

Dr T Balamurali, Consultant Psychiatrist.

In the midst of a global pandemic which continues to affect every aspect of our lives we are all exploring ways in which we can cope with the unprecedented challenges it brings in its wake. The difference between our home and work lives has been rapidly conflated as millions of us have, by necessity, had to rise to the challenges, and benefits of working from home.

Although a vaccine may be just over the horizon many of us will never go back to the office full time. So, what are the implications for individual employees and their managers? We have all seen news and video footage of how individuals are attempting to cope with balancing work life at home, from using ironing boards as a work surface through to ‘stand up’ desk working. Many work colleagues are juggling full time employment from home while trying to balance childcare and the truth is that many are struggling and have little or no time to care for their mental health. It is clear from recent research that levels of stress and negative mental health are rising. So how do managers support their colleagues?

Taking care of one another at work is not just the right thing to do,  it makes financial sense too. Recent research demonstrates that for every £1 that an organisation invests in improving the mental health of their staff, they see an average of a £5 return!

This Mental Health Awareness Training for Managers raises awareness of mental health explaining a variety of home working practices that management can use to offer support to colleagues. It also provides simple and effective tools that can be used on a daily basis for management to enhance both their own and their colleague’s mental health.

This workshop will:

• Encourage managers to understand mental health and wellbeing within the context of the unique challenges thrown up working within a pandemic.

• The causes of stress – how to recognise it and deal with it effectively

• The issues around stigma – self-stigma, public stigma and discrimination. How they can become a barrier to care and support and how to overcome this.

• How to build effective pathways of engagement and support for our colleagues

• How to create a healthy working environment and culture

• Understanding the Pro’s and Con’s of Flexible and Remote working

• Understanding the benefits of effective home working

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Understand what constitutes positive and negative mental health and acknowledge and recognise their and their colleagues potential risk factors

• Understand what stress is – good and bad. Its causes and how to practically and effectively deal with them

• Understand and prevent the effects of stigma around our colleague’s mental health

• Build and promote effective pathways of support and colleague engagement

• Learn how to create and promote a mind-healthy working culture supporting colleagues working flexibly and remotely

Please fill in this form for more information about our training.

Alternatively, please email Chris Miezitis at [email protected].