Supporting the Mental Health of your Workforce

Josh Herrington
Marketing Co-ordinator | Weston College
23rd June 2020
Member roleInitiative member

You can’t have missed some of the shocking statistics reported recently around mental health:

  • A third of young people are overwhelmed by daily feelings of panic and anxiety due to the Coronavirus crisis (source: Princes Trust Young People in Lockdown Report). 
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  • If the economic impact of Covid-19 is similar to that of the post 2008 recession, we can expect 500,000 additional people to experience mental health problems, with depression being the most common (The Centre for Mental Health May 2020 Briefing) One in four people will experience a mental health problem in any given year (Mind UK)

Good mental health (as defined by the World Health Organisation) is “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his/her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”

Coronavirus has certainly catapulted mental health to the top of many organisations agendas.  There appears to be a widespread recognition that we all have ‘mental health’ in the same way we that we have physical health and we have certainly seen a shift in thinking towards how organisations can nurture, support and help to foster good mental health amongst employees.

During the Coronavirus pandemic Weston College has seen a nine-fold increase in the take up of distance learning courses in subjects such as:

  • Mental Health Awareness;
  • Awareness of Mental Health Problems;
  • Working with People with Learning Disabilities;
  • Understanding Behaviour that Challenges; and
  • Understanding Autism.

Many of the articles and posts published during Mental Health Week may have made you reflect on your own organisations approach to mental health.  ‘They’ say that ‘every cloud has a silver lining.  Well if there is a ‘silver lining’ in the Coronavirus ‘cloud’ maybe it’s that as employers, education providers, service providers and membership groups, mental health and the support of good mental health amongst staff, clients, learners or members has become even more of a priority.

To register for a distance learning course visit: www.weston.ac.uk/distancelearning or email: distancelearning@weston.ac.uk  

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