What is Mental Health First Aid & Its Importance in the Workplace

When someone has an injury at work, there will probably be a first aider on hand to deal with the physical wounds that they have suffered, but until now, mental health has still been relatively ignored.

With one in four British workers now experiencing mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety or stress related problems, it is clear that this is a subject that now needs its own specialised attention.

Mental Health First Aiders are now becoming a more common sight in many workplaces. The idea first began in 2006 and has since spread across much of the world.

In this article, Empeiria Training take a look at the role of Mental Health First Aid and why it can be so important in the workplace.

What is Mental Health First Aid?

Mental Health First Aid provides a first port of call for anyone who might be struggling with their mental health. This provides training for any member of staff to help them identify the signs of a mental health illness and gives them the tools to understand and respond to it. This can allow them to reach out to the person in question and can help to reassure them.

The idea of Mental Health First Aid is to pick up on the signs of a problem earlier, and offer a helping hand, therefore helping to avoid a mental health crisis of some sort. It allows businesses to adopt an empathetic and systematic approach to mental health that can make a huge difference to individuals and the workplace as a whole.

What does a Mental Health First Aider do?

It is important to remember that a Mental Health First Aider is not required to offer any form of therapy and is not trained in psychotherapy. Instead, their role is to be a contact point for employees who are suffering with some form of mental health difficulty. They are trained to listen and signpost someone to the most appropriate form of support, whether that is within the business or outside of it.

To be a Mental Health First Aider you should be approachable and able to remain impartial and non-judgemental at all times. It is important to be patient, trustworthy and a skilled listener.

Mental Health First Aiders are taught to recognise the early signs of a mental health problem and can be shown the best ways in which to approach this and try to offer the help that is needed. They are also trained to deal with emergencies such as psychosis, suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide.

A Mental Health First Aider needs to maintain confidentiality and be able to assess the risk that the person might be facing, particularly in relation to self-harm or suicide. They can then encourage people to seek the additional support that is needed that could help them to deal with their problems and could ultimately save their lives.

Why is Mental Health First Aid important in the workplace?

One of the biggest staff issues that any business will have to face is the number of days that their employees have off sick.

Whilst many of these are unavoidable, it could be possible to reduce the absence related to mental health if there is a Mental Health First Aider in the workplace. In 2018/19, issues such as stress, depression or anxiety were responsible for 44% of all cases of work-related ill health and 54% of the working days that were lost.

This is only likely to have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic. This is often because it can take time for someone to recognise that they are struggling with their mental health and seek the help that they need for it, so by having a Mental Health First Aider as part of the business, it may be possible to provide the early intervention that will actually cut the number of sick days that are taken.

It is a sad fact that there are still many negative connotations surrounding the issue of mental health, which can make it difficult for people to talk about it, particularly at work.

However, when employees know that a business has gone to the lengths of training and appointing a Mental Health First Aider, it can help to remove a lot of this stigma.

It can show that the company understands the challenges that people face and want to be able to help them rather than criticise. This spirit of openness and support for mental health can then make it much easier for people to open up and seek help without the worry of how they will be viewed at work.

A Mental Health First Aider must maintain confidentiality at all times unless they believe that someone is at immediate risk of physical harm, such as suicide. This can help to give employees the confidence to speak to them, as they know that none of what they say will be divulged to the management of the business or other colleagues. It also means that they can support the relevant employee in speaking to their managers when it comes to requesting help, needing time off or adapting their role.

When an employee needs time off because of their mental health, the return to work is not always easy and there can be setbacks along the way. A Mental Health First Aider can help them to do this more successfully by providing an action plan and support along the way. This can give the employee a dedicated person to speak to about how they are coping and help them find a way to be back at work in a positive and productive way.

The impact of mental health has been ignored for far too long, and so businesses are now recognising how important it can be to address. By appointing a dedicated Mental Health First Aider in the workplace, they can help to support their staff and benefit the business at the same time, to make it a more positive and empathetic place to work.