Mental Health Awareness for Employers
Description
Stress, left unchecked, can increase the prevalence of mild to moderate mental health conditions amongst staff. Due to the inherent difficulties presented by such conditions – fear of disclosure, stigmatisation, and lack of accurate knowledge – effective management can be problematic. This day long seminar style run course provides a grounding in the knowledge and skills required to more successfully identify and better manage stress, anxiety and depression in the workforce.Who should attend?
This course is of particular value to both Human Resource managers and line managers. Also of benefit to rehabilitation case managers, wishing to increase their understanding of stress and mental health.
Who will the workshop benefit?
Increased knowledge of presenting signs and symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, leading to more effective management of staff with such problems – reduced sickness absence and increased retention rates of valued staff.
Course Overview
This workshop can be made as theoretical or practical as required by the group and flexible in terms of needs. In order to enable learning outcomes to be achieved in a unique and fun way it will include discussion, debates and a critical exploration of:
- Understanding what we mean by mental health promotion
- Recent research evidence
- Signs and symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression
- Causes of mental health disorders
- Treatments and resources
- Practical management – self help strategies
- Effective communication skills
- Reasonable Adjustments for staff with mental health issues
Course Facilitator
Dave Costello has been an Occupational Therapist for 17 years and has worked in a variety of clinical areas in mental health in the NHS. He went on to specialise in vocational rehabilitation, exploring methods in which services could become more focused around assisting and supporting individuals with health issues back into work. He worked for a national pilot in job retention in Bristol, which then resulted in him helping to deliver training to some 30 Trusts and Voluntary Sector providers around the UK in job retention case management.
Dave is continuing this work in Wales, and is the lead OT for the Healthy Minds at Work Equal Programme. Dave is also a guest lecturer at the University of West of England. In recent years Dave has worked outside the context of the NHS, and has designed and delivered Condition Management Programmes for Depression through the New Deal, as well as providing rehabilitation and case management to the insurance industry. Dave is a trained clinical hypnotherapist and regularly utilises this skill in addition to more traditional therapeutic approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy and solution focussed approaches.
