It is time to give back, to say ‘thank you’ and to show our appreciation in a practical, supportive manner. We’ve all clapped on our doorsteps, but as the lockdown slowly eases, but with the thought of the second wave of coronavirus potentially looming, NHS and frontline staff will finally have time to reflect on their magnificent, heroic, selfless work. These tireless men and women are, like us, only human. They are not immune from the enormous stress that they have experienced nor that this can lead, directly, to mental health issues.
As our way of providing hands-on, practical help, broadcaster and writer Russ Kane and his co-founder of Men’s Radio Station and Women’s Radio Station, entrepreneur and theatre-owner Howard Jameson, have joined forces with Mental Health Solutions in Business to offer free accredited online mental health awareness courses designed to help people assess their mental health and spot the signs that they or their colleagues are not coping. Usually priced at between £90 and £395, NHS staff and frontline workers can select the course of their choice at no charge. Courses can be completed at the user’s own convenience and at a pace to suit themselves.
Brief background
Russ Kane and Howard Jameson founded Men’s Radio Station in January 2019, exactly one year after they launched Women’s Radio Station with Penny Horner of The Jermyn Street Theatre. Both stations are on-air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The ethos is to remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues and to create a non-judgemental space where men could truly discuss the issues that affected them most. In the UK, the suicide statistics are 80% men, 20% women. Bottling up emotions can lead to catastrophic results, hence the station’s strapline ‘Where Men Really Talk’. The reaction to MRS has been exceptionally positive among its global audience and the medical community.
Mental Health Solutions in Business has been running successfully for many years, under the leadership of Steve Jackson and Bernadette Bruckner. Its aim is to offer training for companies own in-house staff to help identify problems and facilitate help; a ‘keep up to date’ service to ensure employers are always aware of changes to the Equality Act as they happen and give access to 24/7 professional counselling – anywhere – for their workers. Mental health in the workplace is one of the hottest topics in the industry today, second only to restoring the economy after COVID-19. However, the two are integrally linked, no more so than the extraordinary stresses that NHS staff and frontline workers have endured week after week.
Full details are available on both the Men’s Radio Station and Mental Health Solutions in Business websites.
Details of the available courses
1. Get out of your head and focus your mind
Suitable for everyone; frontline managers and staff who are facing change will also find this very helpful.
Help for people with keeping a great life-work balance, covering emotion regulation, increasing focus and attention, and decreasing distractibility. How to stop overthinking and replaying ‘what if’s’ and to move ahead.
Click here to read more details
2. Mental health awareness
Suitable for everyone, regardless of qualifications, experience, or knowledge of mental health.
Learn how to identify common mental illnesses, recognise behaviours which discriminate against people who are mentally ill. Recognise things which cause stress in yourself and others. Select strategies which help you cope well with everyday stress and mental distress. How to spot the signs of mental health issues early.
Click here to read more details
3. Employer’s legal responsibilities, policies, procedures, and awareness
This is a crash course aimed at directors and senior management needing to learn about mental health implementation policies, essential business skills in mental health awareness and implantation. Not suitable for individuals with no senior management experience or those who have no say in the implementation of policies and procedures within their workplace.
- Learn how to spot the signs of mental health issues in employees.
- Know your legal obligations regarding mental health in the workplace.
- Know what your responsibilities are as the manager or employer.
- Be able to hold those ‘difficult conversations’ how to approach employees.
Click here to read more details
4. Mental health implementation in the workplace
This course is aimed at directors and senior management needing to learn about mental health implementation policies, which are essential in business.
- Explain pitfalls of not understanding your legal obligations towards mental health in the workplace
- Become familiar with case studies demonstrating legal obligations
- Spot the signs of mental health issues in employees
- Describe the characteristics of a healthy workplace
- Examples of self-care strategies for all employees.
- Methods of implementing ‘reasonable adjustment’
Click here to read more details
How to access your free courses
- Click on the link of the course you are interested in. The link will take you to the learning platform on the website.
- When you land on Mental Health Solutions in Business add the selected course to your shopping basket.
- Enter the voucher code 032020 at checkout and your card will not be debited for any money. The code will return the amount owed to £0.00
- You will receive an e-mail with your log in details and you can start the course and complete at your own convenience and pace. You can log out and return to the course anytime.
- When you have completed the course, you will be asked to fill in a very short feedback form. Once this is returned your CPD-accredited certificate will be emailed to you to print off and frame.
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Image credit: Freepik
