Mental Health Awareness Training for Managers

The onus of identifying possible psychological ailments in the workplace lies with managers at all levels of an organisation. Ann McCracken* has designed our Mental Health Awareness Training for Managers course to help managers and supervisors shoulder that responsibility with confidence.

Key benefits

The course aims to teach delegates to:

• understand the stigma that surrounds mental health;
• increase awareness of their own attitudes to mental health and illness;
• improve their understanding of the way stress impacts on mental health;
• recognise and understand some of the most common signs, symptoms and behaviours of mental health conditions in the workplace;
• gain the confidence to deal with staff who may be experiencing mental health problems;
• understand their legal requirements within the 2010 Equality Act.

The course teaches delegates how to recognise and understand some of the most common signs, symptoms and behaviours of mental health conditions in the workplace. This course also raises awareness of the stress response and how that response impacts on mental health.

But the effects aren't just felt by the employee who's struggling. The course also covers possible larger effects these issues might have on other individuals, teams and the overall organisational welfare.

Upon completion, managers will gain the confidence to deal with the human side of mental health conditions. They will learn the most effective ways to manage a staff member with either suspected or diagnosed psychological conditions.

From a legal perspective, successful delegates (and their organisation) will comply with the Equality Act 2010 thereafter.

As part of this training, all delegates must take our eLearning stress awareness programme as a pre-course exercise. The actual training day takes place at the client's premises. By completing the eLearning course and holding the training inhouse we can tailor the course and make it relevant and relatable to the organisation's ethos, policies and procedures.

Course components

With so much to cover, we need to deliver the course with a variety of techniques, which enable us to:

• examine how stress can cause and impact upon mental health;
• look at which common mental health conditions managers can expect in the workplace;
• visualise how mental health relates to the 2010 Equality Act;
• discuss options for managers when dealing with staff who are unwell at work;
• realise how stress and common mental health issues in the workplace can:
  • affect the team wellbeing and performance;
  • increase absenteeism and presenteeism;
• learn how to use a range of tools and techniques to manage those with mental health conditions in the workplace including:
  • active listening skills;
  • managing difficult conversations;
  • how to ask good coaching questions;
  • tips to support sufferers and when and where to 'signpost';
• information for managers on existing workplace support and referral options.

Course format

In order to gather that information we use:

• group exercises;
• individual questionnaires;
• open discussions;

Our mental health awareness training covers a lot of ground; even managers might struggle to grasp every concept with so much new information to learn. So that managers can carry out this training in a real life mental health emergency should one arise, we give all our delegates comprehensive course notes.

The notes aren't just a memento of the day. They're your platform to build a productive, inclusive platform for mental health sufferers and their colleagues around them.

This course is delivered in association with *Ann McCracken Consultancy. There are no set dates. If you have an enquiry, we will do our best to deliver our mental health awareness around your managers' schedules. Thank you.