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What is Mental Health?

Everyone has mental health. Some people have good mental health, others have bad mental health. Some people suffer with chronic mental health conditions whereas others suffer from episodes where their mental health fluctuates. There are various mental health conditions people live with, to name a few:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Psychosis
• Eating disorders
• Obsessive compulsive disorder.

The above are just some of the conditions people may have been diagnosed with but there are many more, and with mental health finally having more attention, more conditions are being discovered. On a more positive note, more therapies and treatments are also being created too. However, there is still a huge stigma surrounding mental health which is why it is so important to continue raising awareness. This is a responsibility all of us have, whether this is as individuals, employers, employees, parents, teachers, or friends.

Mental Health and COVID-19

I’m sure by now we all know what COVID-19 is. Unfortunately, the majority of people have either suffered personally with this virus or know somebody who has. When thinking about COVID-19, the common symptoms of a continuous cough, a high temperature and loss of taste or smell come to mind, but these are just some of the physical effects. COVID-19 has also been a catalyst for mental health conditions worsening or developing.

Yes, mental health has been around long before COVID-19 but with national lockdowns having been implemented it has left many feeling isolated, unable to get support and others developing mental health conditions as a result of COVID.

The Impact:

 As previously mentioned, COVID-19 may have impacted people’s mental health. Here are some examples:

• Anxiety – as a result of the negative media coverage surrounding COVID-19, people may feel more worried to leave the house and come into contact with people in case they catch the coronavirus. Symptoms of anxiety such as panic attacks may worsen due to the lack of support available. Also, the worry that they have COVID-19 may increase too as the symptoms of coronavirus are similar to those of anxiety, e.g. faster heartbeat, faster breathing rate.
• Depression – many people diagnosed with depression find routine helps, but COVID-19 has interrupted this which may make it more difficult for those suffering. COVID has left a lot of people uncertain about their future, increasing their daily stresses, this may have caused their depression to worsen or may have caused others to develop depression. It is easy to feel hopeless during these times too, as it is has had such a great impact on the whole world, it can leave people feeling insignificant. Socially distancing measures can leave people feeling isolated too.
• BPD – COVID has made it difficult to see those outside of your household, this can increase the feelings of abandonment some people who live with BPD experience. Also, paranoia may have increased but it may be more revolved on coronavirus. Urges to self-harm or suicidal feelings may increase or develop as the stresses COVID-19 has caused become overwhelming.
• Psychosis – The stresses and constant media coverage of coronavirus may cause someone who lives with psychosis to start having COVID related delusions or hallucinations. These can be hard to distinguish from reality. Also, if people in your household are not supportive or understanding this can increase stress levels too.
• Eating Disorders – COVID may cause an increase in anxiety or changes in routine which may make a person’s eating disorder worse, especially if food is used as a way of being in control. Additionally, due to coronavirus, worries about food shopping such as “safe” foods being available or contracting COVID may be present.
• OCD – Obsessions and compulsions may increase in severity as stress increases because of COVID-19. Or new obsessions or compulsions may develop about coronavirus. With the government releasing guidance on hand washing this may be a common compulsion to develop/worsen.

How to help:

It is still as important to seek professional help for any mental health concerns than it was before the pandemic began. There are multiple ways to do this such as booking an appointment with your GP or using dedicated call lines where people have had specific training to help in a mental health crisis, for example: Samaritans. It is also important to ensure you have a good support network around you which can be utilised via phone calls/ social media if face-to-face contact with these people is difficult at present due to COVID.

Keeping away from negative media coverage can help decrease levels of anxiety about coronavirus. If it is social media that is increasing anxiety there are settings on the majority of modern phones that allow you to limit the time spent on there.

Establishing a new routine relevant to the restrictions of COVID may help ease any mental health issues. Including a daily walk, mindfulness activities, relaxation techniques and a mood diary in this may be beneficial in keeping you feeling balanced.

If exercise previously helped you feel better but you feel anxious about going back to your gym, try doing a home body weight workout or investing in some at home equipment such as bands/ light weights may be a good alternative. Exercise has been proven to release “feel good” endorphins that decrease stress and increase mood.

How to help as an employer?

Many employers feel the stress of looking after their employee’s wellbeing, whether this being physical or mental. It is a legal requirement to have trained first aiders at work to look after the physical needs of your employees, but this does not provide training for their mental and emotional needs. As a solution, many companies opt to book their employees onto a Mental Health First Aid at Work course. They feel it benefits everyone if people are aware of the signs and symptoms of mental health and feel competent in being able to help.

COVID-19 may have restricted access to certain mental health resources therefore your employees may be unable to get help outside of work. If any positive can come from this awful virus, let it be that your employees feel supported for their mental health whilst at work by investing into a Mental Health at Work course to gain invaluable knowledge. Afterall, on average during their lifetime people spend 3,515 full days at work, making colleagues more likely to pick up on any behaviour changes and be able to intervene right at the start.

Click here to book your course…

The post The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health appeared first on Safe Hands Training Services.

An old Zen proverb says:  

“You should sit in nature for 20 minutes a day.

Unless you’re busy, then you should sit for an hour”

Take care of your own mental heath, we all have mental health just as we all have physical health! life is a gift to be enjoyed

The pace of life sometimes puts pressure on us and the need to keep up with everything going on around us can sometimes feel overwhelming!

We must take care of ourselves to enable us to live our life to the full and help and support the people around us, I’m sure many of you have heard the saying … “you can’t pour from an empty cup”

Try to build ‘PACE’ into your daily routine –

Play 

Make a little time to do something you enjoy, even if that’s ten minutes out of 24 hours!

Achieve

Do something, complete something, finish something, even if that’s cleaning out that cupboard that is threating to break open the door and spill all over the floor!

Care

Self care and care for others, in a world where we can be anything – be kind!

Exercise 

Mild to moderate exercise has been proven to increase ‘feel good’ chemicals into our brain!

Our Mental Health First Aid Training course is run over two days, we cover PACE in depth and so much more, such as the Limbic Relay System and Polyvagal Theory and how this links to anxiety and depression.

We look at the Why? not just the conditions, but why people may be living with poor mental health. We start at the beginning when the baby is developing in the womb. We discuss how ‘mom’s mental and physical health and environment can impact baby’s development. We look at the theory of attachment and how this influences our relationships with others as we grow into Adults.

Our passion as trainers lies in good mental health, empowering others to feel confident and capable to live and enjoy life, We love educating ourselves and working with likeminded people, raising awareness of poor mental health and breaking down the stigma. The stigma is unfortunately still very much a huge part of the reason people do not speak up about their emotional and mental health, as they would do any physical illness.

As raising awareness of poor mental health is so important to us we believe our Mental Health First Aid Training is awesome! the feedback we regularly get from people on our courses confirms this!

To support, care for and help others at work or at home we must first care for and understand ourselves. After attending our Mental Health Training people often tell us not only how interesting and comprehensive they found the course, but also how they now have a better understanding of themselves and their relationships with others. They leave the class room feeling empowered with their new knowledge and skills to care for and support both their family and colleagues at work.

We believe that if we can enable people through education, to have a better understanding of good and poor mental health, and the factors that play such an important part in living a balanced life that we can empower people to feel confident within themselves and their job roles, no matter what industry they work within.

We are also extremely fortunate to work closely with many organisations offering residential care to both vulnerable Children and Adults. Through continuous education and development, we can protect our vulnerable Children and Adults from any potential harm coming to them or indeed mental health issues developing. Working together we can achieve positive outcomes for young people in care and allow our elderly community the chance to enjoy their old age with the dignity and respect that they deserve.

For more information on the content of Mental Health First Aid Training

click here

https://safehandstrainingservicesltd.co.uk/courses/mental-health-first-aid-course-staffordshire-faa-level-two-rqf/

The post Mental Health Awareness Week 13th – 19th May 2024 appeared first on Safe Hands Training Services.

Depression can result in low morale and absenteeism.

It is extremely important that an employer takes Mental Health in the workplace seriously. Both for the benefit of their staff and their company. Employers have a duty of care to their employees which requires them to take all necessary precautions to ensure physical and mental well-being of their staff. In addition, the Health & Safety at work Act 1992 makes it compulsory for employers to assess any Mental Health Work related issues and measure the levels of risk to staff.

However, many employers are not 100% certain on how to go about doing this but after completing Mental Health First Aid training they feel much more confident and capable of looking after their employee’s Mental well-being.

Is poor Mental Health a Disability?

Mental Health issues can be classed as a disability under law, as long as it meets the following:

• Has more than a small effect on their daily life
• Has lasted at least 12 months or more

If so, the employer cannot discriminate against them as a result of their disability and must consider making reasonable adjustments depending on the Mental Health issue. Even if the employee does not experience symptoms constantly it can still be considered a disability. Ideally the employer should work alongside the employee when making the adjustments to ensure they are correct. Making simple changes to a person’s working responsibilities and arrangements usually helps, these could be allowing the employee to take extra breaks or taking the time to work with them each day to prioritise their workload.

Types of Mental Health Issues in the Workplace:

There are many types of Mental Health issues so knowing the relevant Mental Health First Aid is beneficial when approaching them. Mental Health issues can develop over-time or can develop without warning because of a life event. In a workplace there are more common mental health issues that are experienced and less common. The common mental health issues that employees are likely to come across are:

• Depression – to feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days.
• Anxiety – a long-term condition that causes you to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than 1 specific event.
• Stress – is characterized by the development of severe anxiety, dissociation, and other symptoms.

The less common mental health issues are:

• Bipolar disorder – affects your moods, which can swing from 1 extreme to another.
• Schizophrenia – a person may not always be able to distinguish their own thoughts and ideas from reality.

Depression at Work

Depression comes in many forms. To name a few; mild, moderate, seasonal affective disorder. Depression can also be a symptom of other mental health disorders such as bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. People who have serve depression can experience psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. Anyone can be affected by depression regardless of age or gender. In its most severe form, it can lead to suicidal thoughts. The Samaritans recorded 6,507 deaths due to suicide in the UK in 2018 alone, with men being 3x more likely to die by suicide than women, in fact the highest suicide rate is men, aged 45-49. In 2018 the overall deaths by suicide rose by 10.9% in the UK and the rate of deaths by suicide for under 25s increasing by 23.7%, reaching a total of 730 deaths. Depression in the workplace can be caused by the pressures that accompany work. To name a few: fear of redundancy, long working hours, having to deal with difficult people/situations and unreasonable targets.

Anxiety at Work

Are you contributing to your staff’s poor Mental Health?

Anxiety is often experienced alongside depression. Workplace anxiety can have many triggers, and is made up of many different elements, some being more severe than others. Work can either lead to anxiety or anxiety disorder can impact work. Anxiety has many different categories such as: generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive – compulsive disorder, specific phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

As well as the general symptoms of anxiety, there are symptoms to lookout for which may indicate to workplace anxiety. These being: taking an unusual time off from work, overreacting to situations on the job, focusing too much on the negative aspects of their job and the inability to concentrate on work or complete tasks by their deadline.

Some causes for anxiety in the workplace are dealing with work conflicts, meeting deadlines, negative relationships with co-workers, long working hours, an overly high workload and lack of control over the work environment. Anxiety at work can also lead to a reduction in performance and quality of work, reduced confidence in skills and being less likely to take risks leading to a plateau in their career. Workplace anxiety must be addressed due to its negative effects and in order to prevent poor outcomes for employees, and also organisations.

Work-related Stress 

Stress can be induced by work and is then known as work-related stress. It can occur when a pre-existing mental health issue is aggravated. Stress, as a Mental Health issue, can be explained using the stress container. It is crucial to address this mental health issue as prolonged work-related stress can lead to physical and psychological damage.

The Stress container

Work related stress must be assessed by the employer in order to measure the risk level of the employee. Then steps should be put into place to reduce it. By completing a Mental Health at Work course, you gain the skills that enable you to help an employee or colleague who may be suffering with work related stress.

How common is Mental Health in the Workplace?

Mental Health in the workplace is more common than people may think. For example;

• 1/6.8 people experience mental health issues within the workplace
• Women who work full time are more likely to have common mental health issues than men in full time employment
• There is evidence to suggest that 12.7% of all sickness absence days in the UK can be attributed to Mental Health conditions.

300,000 people who suffer with their Mental Health lose their jobs each year whilst 602,000 workers suffer from work-related stress, depression or anxiety. With the total cost of poor employee Mental Health costing employers £42 billion last year alone. This is due to high staff turnover, sickness days (on average 12.8 million work days being lost), lost productivity. When it is broken down it costs the employer £1,300 per employee because of poor Mental Health at work.

89% of workers with mental health issues report that it has an impact on their work but only 13% of employees would be comfortable to talk about Mental Illness whilst at work. A 2017 poll by Time to Change found that workers would rather discuss sex or money than talk about Mental Health which highlights that there is still a big stigma surrounding mental health. So much so 95% of employees who called in sick due to poor Mental Health gave a different reason. Due to this stigma, the number of new cases is 246,000 at an incidence rate of 740 per 100,000; this equates to 21.2 days lost per case. The main factors of poor mental health in the workplace are found to be workload pressures and lack of managerial support.

Why complete a Mental Health First Aid Training Course?

By completing a Mental Health First Aid course those taking part will cover a wide range of mental health conditions and learn in detail the range of therapy and professional support that a person may be given by professional bodies during treatment for a mental health condition. The range of subjects covered include;

• What is First Aid for Mental Health?
• Identifying mental health conditions
• Providing advice and starting a conversation
• Drugs and alcohol
• First aid for mental health action plan
• First aid for mental health in the workplace
• A large range of mental health conditions covered in detail.

If staff feel comfortable to talk about their mental well-being and mental health whilst at work it means that:

• They are less likely to take time off with a mental health issue
• Morale in the workplace is increased

By gaining a greater understanding of Mental Health and how to help those who suffer from it the employer can give better Mental Health support. Better Mental Health support can save a business £8 billion per year. Well-being at work can be promoted through personalised information and advice, risk assessment questionnaires, seminars and workshops. All of which can be discussed during the Mental Health First Aid training. With the net return of investing into employees Mental Well-being is …% more than the initial investment, it is easy to see why employers choose to put more time and effort looking after the Mental Health of their employees. Both for the employees benefit and that of the company.

To find out more information and book one of our Mental Health First Aid in the workplace courses, please click here 

For more information about Mental Health and Mental Health Awareness please visit:

• ACAS
• Mind.org
• Gov.uk
• NHS

The post Mental Health First Aid Training in the Workplace appeared first on Safe Hands Training Services.