Blog Posts

The good news is that you can be kind to yourself, and achieve more, increase your wellbeing and feel more positive. A win-win! You don’t have to be self-critical to succeed.

Understanding the impact of mental illness and how it affects people is vital for any manager to successfully support and lead their teams.

Self-care is necessary for physical health, mental health, resilience, coping with stress and our overall wellbeing. Therefore, it should be a priority. For many of us this is not the reality.

Mental health in the workplace and the importance of supporting employee mental health has risen up the business agenda in the last two years. What should we be doing in 2022?

Burnout is a phase we are hearing about with increased frequency as a result of chronic workplace stress. When it affects someone, the impact is huge. However, it is preventable if we look at how we are working as individuals, and also examine organisational culture.

Connecting with nature benefits our mental health. With research showing its about noticing and appreciating the aspects of nature.

A key skill of Mental Health First Aid is listening, specifically non-judgemental listening. Developing this can be great for MHFA as well as life.

At a very simplistic level self-compassion is the difference between living with an internal narrative, and one that is a kind and supportive friend.

The topic for this MHFA Networking group was how in lockdown we are being approached to support people, which we want to do, but are finding it increasingly difficult as our own resources become stretched.

Having open conversations about mental ill health will help break down the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness. For Time to Talk Day we share some tips for supportive conversations around mental health.

In 2020 the terms mental health and mental ill health became part of everyday vocabulary. However, the statistics continue to paint a concerning picture.

Amidst the difficulties people have faced; there are many stories of how people have supported each other. MHFA has been part of this.

This blog brings together ideas for how we can encourage those experiencing loneliness to build connections to enhance their wellbeing.

We are living in stressful times and finding strategies to manage is vital to our health. This includes our physical health, mental health and wellbeing. 

At the recent MHFA Networking and Support Group we discussed people’s responses to change, which demonstrated one of the key challenges in supporting people – we all view changes differently.

When supporting employee mental ill health, the aim is to enable them to feel able to be open about their health so that you can together identify the best way to provide support, so they can work productively and effectively.

This article considers the many reasons employees may feel anxious and express anxiety about returning to the workplace. It suggests signs you may notice as an MHFAider and what you might do to provide support.

Drawing from a professional perspective of many years in HR I saw organisations manage mental health symptoms rather than look at culture and causes

Mental Health First Aiders add great value to organisations but only if employees understand their role and know how to contact them. This article shares ideas on how to do this effectively.

Those working within HR have had to respond rapidly in tough times. Within it has been good to observe some positives that we can choose to take forward.

Your MHFAiders understand their role and want to make a difference. But what happens next? How do you look after them? Its important that the commitment to MHFAiders doesn’t end with training.