Introducing our Mental Health First Aiders

Over the last few months, we’ve been working hard on developing our wellbeing offering for our colleagues and as part of this have supported the training of 40+ mental health first aiders across the Group.

These volunteers have undergone an accredited course delivered by Oakridge Centre and the Red Cross, to help them to build the skills and confidence needed to identify the signs of mental health issues and help guide colleagues towards the best type of support for them.

Colin Watt, Chief People Officer commented: “Understanding and managing the emotional wellbeing challenges we all face can be daunting. With the launch of our global Mental Health First Aiders network, we are complementing our existing employee assistance programme to help with the pressure and ensure that all colleagues feel supported, listened to and know where to turn for guidance.”

Ensuring colleagues feel comfortable to bring their whole selves to work is something that we are very committed to and a large part of that is encouraging them to speak freely about mental health challenges and feel safe about reaching out.”

Not only do we have a Mental Health First Aider network, but colleagues also have access to a 24-hour, seven days a week, 365 days per year support service, and nearly 180 managers have undergone accredited Mental Health Awareness training to equip them to have supportive conversations and signpost their team members to support services in place.