Announced today, all UNLIMITED employees will benefit from mental health training highlighting the importance of supporting themselves and each other with mental health in the workplace, particularly during these times. Part of a wider initiative to empower staff to take care of themselves, the aim is to ensure all employees have better days at work and is one of many initiatives driven by UNLIMITED to ensure everyone’s mental health and wellbeing remains a top priority.
With an approach that puts understanding humans at the heart of everything they do, UNLIMITED has partnered with workplace health experts Champion Health to make conversations about mental health part of everyday culture through education and support.
The extensive training programme covers many modules including self-care, stress awareness, common signs for mental health problems, anxiety &, depression, supporting others, gambling, addiction and people in crisis. New analysis by The Royal College of Psychiatrists has shown that addiction levels are at their highest since 2015 and over 8.4 million people are now drinking at higher risk, up from just 4.8 million in February.
Training will equip all employees with practical tools to intervene if colleagues are showing (often complex) signs they might be struggling with mental health issues. These include action plans, resources to help change behavioural patterns and progress check-ins. As part of the programme UNLIMITED has implemented long-term plans to develop a culture of openness and awareness of mental health issues in the workplace.
Training is also designed to show how employees can create long-term positive changes to their health.
Ita Waller, HR director at UNLIMITED said: “By training everyone at UNLIMITED we are tackling this problem head on and I’m hoping it will be a standard for our industry. We are trying to address the stigma by empowering people through our internal ‘My Mind Matters’ programme. By normalising conversations about mental health we can connect on better levels and inclusive cultures can thrive. Our proposition is all based around Human Understanding and our people are our most important asset, so we have to apply the necessary care now more than ever, to ensure our employees’ mental and physical wellbeing is looked after.”
UNLIMITED has also partnered with leading experts in workplace diversity and inclusion, Challenge Consult and are training all staff to understand the nature of unconscious bias and how it impacts individual and group attitudes, behaviours, and decision-making processes.