HSW Guides and documents summary

VPS UK LTD Health, Safety and Wellbeing – summary documents

Guides and documents produced:

#StrongerTogether

For 2021, VPS made a commitment that mental health and well being would be top of our agenda for 2021. Part of that has meant we have engaged social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England for training that will equip our staff with skills to support their own and others’ wellbeing. From awareness raising to skill development, their courses empower people to notice signs of mental ill health, and encourage them to break down barriers, listen in a non-judgmental way, and signpost to support for recovery. MHFA’s stated mission is to train one in ten people in mental health awareness and skills.

In addition to the dozens of staff members who have already undergone mental health awareness training, we now have ten mental health first-aiders trained within VPS.

The role of our mental health first-aiders is to be a first point of contact for colleagues who are experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress, or talk to a mental health first-aider if they have any concerns about another colleague. Further support is also available from within the organisation, for example via occupational health or our employee assistance programme (EAP).

Joanna Gamesby, VPS Operations Support Manager, explains “Although quite a heavy subject at times, the training course was brilliant. The aim for me is to reduce stigma around the topic and the fear of judgement and to encourage people to access support early. The course covered Mental Health and what that means, statistics and self-help. The topics covered included anxiety disorders, depression, suicide, and psychosis and how we can best support those with a diagnosis and without.

I think it’s a huge step forward for the business to help reduce stigma, raise awareness and help those who require it, with access to support not only our colleagues but also our friends, family and the wider community”.

#mentalhealthawareness #training #community