Two new campaign partners to mark Stress Awareness Month
HSE’s Working Minds campaign welcomes two new partners during Stress Awareness Month, the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) and See Me – Scotland’s national programme to end mental health stigma.
SAMH has been supporting Scotland’s mental health for 100 years, and currently operates over 70 services in communities across the country, providing mental health social care support, addictions and employment services, among others.
See Me is Scotland’s national programme change negative behaviour towards those with mental health problems and end discrimination, for a fair and inclusive Scotland.
Emma Mamo, Assistant Director of Workplace and Business Development at SAMH, said: “Regardless of the size of your organisation, promoting mental health should be a key priority. We know that a mentally healthy workplace is more productive, has lower staff turnover and fewer absences, with added benefits including higher staff morale and improved working relationships.
“Through our partnership with Working Minds, we aim to raise awareness and help empower people in workplaces across the country. This is also a key component of SAMH Workplace training, which develops the confidence and capabilities of participants, equipping learners with the tools and resources they need to improve the mental health and wellbeing of themselves and others.”
Wendy Halliday, Director of See Me, said: “HSE’s Working Minds campaign is an important partnership for us at See Me. The last few years have been tough for workers across the country, and we know that more needs to be done to enable people to feel comfortable speaking about their mental health.
“Mental health stigma continues to be a major barrier for people in the workplace, with nearly 40 per cent of Scottish workers telling us that they think colleagues are unlikely to speak about a mental health problem at work for fear of losing their job. This means that people aren’t asking for help when they need it, which can lead to bigger issues for employers.”
More about Stress Awareness Month
HSE and its twenty-two partner organisations across Great Britain have come together to urge workplaces to take action on work-related stress and mental health. The law requires employers to protect workers from work-related stress by doing a risk assessment, and then acting on it. If employers don’t do anything about workplace stress, it will cost. That cost might be productivity, sickness absence, losing a valued member of the team if they’re not able to stay in work.
Liz Goodwill, Head of the Work-Related Stress and Mental Health Policy Team at HSE, said: “Stress Awareness Month is an opportunity for employers to check in and support their staff’s mental health. Working Minds helps employers to follow five simple steps based on risk assessment. They are to Reach out and have conversations, Recognise the signs and causes of stress, Respond to any risks you’ve identified, Reflect on actions you’ve agreed and taken, and make it Routine. It needs to become the norm to talk about stress and how people are feeling and coping at work.
“There are six main areas that can lead to work-related stress if they are not managed properly. These are: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Factors like skills and experience, age, or disability may all affect someone’s ability to cope.”
To help businesses support good mental health in their workers and access support, we have put together resources from HSE and our campaign partners into one simple document, which you can download here.
Find out more about SAMH and See ME
