Head of wellbeing at Mace, Judith Grant, will address the rising concerns of mental health in the workplace during her keynote speech at the first St John Ambulance summit for mental health
Judith has been asked to represent the construction sector – an industry which is often seen as vulnerable to many mental health related issues such as stress or depression.
The summit is set to raise awareness of mental health and to help business leaders and human resources professionals develop best practice.
Debbie Adwent, operations manager for St John Ambulance, said: “Business leaders are becoming more progressive in their attitudes to a subject often seen as taboo.
“They recognise it makes economic sense to look after people’s mental as well as physical wellbeing and that problems can arise in any sector, from education to construction.
“But, as our survey shows, there is still much work to do to raise awareness of the impact of poor mental health on people’s ability to perform and what steps can be taken to make a big difference. Our first national summit is designed to help employers develop policy.
“Mental health first aid teaches people how to watch over their own mental health as well as that of others. It’s only the first part of a solution but it’s an excellent start.”
St John Ambulance is projecting that 10,000 managers and their staff will take up more training in 2019, up from 5,000 this year.
A recent survey of 900 St John Ambulance customers revealed a tenth of companies did not recognise stress as a condition and a quarter (26%) were said to be doing nothing about it.
Only a fifth (19%) were known to have any kind of mental health policy in place.
Six out of 10 of the respondents, mainly working in HR and administration, asserted their employer should do more to address mental health in the workplace.
The ‘Mental Health in the Workplace’ summit will take place on the 6th and 7th December at the King’s Fund, 11 Cavendish Place, London W1G 0AN.
