What is Mental Health First Aid?

While the importance of traditional first aid is widely known and understood, it is becoming increasingly clear to employers that safeguarding their teams’ mental wellbeing is just as vital.

This is known as mental health first aid. As Mental Health Awareness Day is approaching, we have put together a guide on supporting mental health first aid in the workplace.

Common mental stressors in the workplace

Every person is different and deals with mental stresses differently, things that cause intense stress for some may not for others. Every workplace contains potential sources of stress which can lead to mental health issues.

Long working hours

While some professions may require long hours, it is important to maintain a healthy balance between work and rest.

Steps to help support mental wellbeing when working long hours include: taking breaks, getting enough sleep, getting enough exercise, and eating a healthy diet.

High stress working environment

All workplaces have the potential to be stressful from time to time, and in certain environments such as hospitals, care homes and other fast paced places of work, work related stress can be more prevalent.

In these high stress environments, it is especially important to have measures in place to help support employee wellbeing,including ensuring members of the team have completed a mental health first aid course so they can better support their colleagues.

Existing mental health conditions

Around one in four people in the UK will suffer from a mental health condition each year according to the NHS. Dealing with existing mental health conditions alongside work can further exacerbate these conditions.

This is why it’s vital for employers to have the correct training and policies to be able to support employees who suffer from mental health conditions, whether it affects their work or not.

Steps to help support employee’s mental wellbeing

Actively taking steps to support your employee or colleague’s mental health helps reduce the number of workdays missed through sickness, as well as improving general morale around the workplace.

Create a supportive, open environment

One of the biggest obstacles in challenging the taboo around mental health is people feeling like they can’t discuss their struggles. As an employer, you should create an environment where employees have regular meetings with managers and feel as though they can talk about feelings.

Ensure staff are trained

Training your staff in workplace mental health ensures that they understand legislation surrounding mental health, how to identify early warning signs, how to recognise a range of mental health disorders, and how to support people suffering with them.

How Imperative Training can help

Imperative Training offers a range of in-house training courses that equip your business to support your staff members’ mental wellbeing and generally improve mental wellbeing at your place of work. You can view our mental health first aid courses here.

You can contact us on 01617767420 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more.