MENTAL HEALTH: How to implement a mental health initiative

COMMENT: Training is absolutely key when implementing a mental health initiative, writes Melanie Olrik, head of HR, Malcolm Hollis. You only really get one shot at this, at telling employees that you really mean it and that you are serious about it. If you mess that up with shoddy training or half-baked ideas, they are not going to buy into it. We set about trying to change the culture, which is no easy thing to do. There is a willingness there but you have got to have buy in from the top. We canvassed the partners about it and the support was huge then we set about training all of the managers in mental health awareness, followed by employees. Getting that buy in is incredibly important. There is no point on just one person doing this and banging their drum, you have all got to be on board with it in order to change the culture. More on mental health: Muse puts wellbeing at its heart The importance of finding the quiet It’s time to talk, and to listen Awareness of what mental health actually is is as important as how to have conversations about mental health. Line managers need to not be frightened to talk about it and to know how to respond to it. Understanding mental health and where the issues are gives you the confidence to have those conversations. A number of staff have written in our company magazine about their own struggles. They haven’t been anonymous and you would never believe that they would have had these issues. They explained that the support they got made all the difference and you can see that. You can see that people get better from these things. When other people come forward and talk about it and normalise it, then people think maybe I am not weird, maybe I can talk about it and maybe I can get some help. Implementing a mental health initiative isn’t difficult and if the stats are right – 1 in 4 people affected – then most companies will see a result. You shouldn’t be frightened about doing it. Be passionate about it, really mean it and put the infrastructure in place and then it does the work itself.