The JBC Group is known for caring for people’s needs. Customers, clients…and employees.
And as a company who recognises the importance of mental health, three of our Group team members have completed the St John’s Ambulance L3 Mental Health First Aid course, to support our colleagues.
The course is designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health. And once qualified, people can then provide help on a first aid basis. In the same way as learning physical first aid, the course teaches people how to recognise those crucial warning signs of mental ill health and feel confident to guide someone to appropriate support.
Group Health and Safety Manager Sonny Barnes said: “As an employer who cares, we want to do our very best to make our teams comfortable in and outside of work. By bringing in Mental Health First Aiders, we’ve created something that can support employees who are experiencing mental ill health, anxiety, distress, or just need a chat.”
The support from qualified Mental Health First Aiders can vary from having a non-judgmental conversation with a colleague, through to guiding them towards the right support.
Qualified Mental Health First Aiders may have a variety of different responsibilities, such as:
Richard Haigh, Cheryl Norton and Steve Budd are JBC Group’s Mental Health First Aiders. Each one of them were keen to get involved. Richard said: “I wanted to promote this aspect of health and safety, as often it is easier to overlook the health aspect. Becoming a mental health first aider will help us to increase awareness and have the skills to manage it”
Cheryl said: “I wanted to become a mental health first aider to help others with their mental health as well as understanding and managing my own mental health.”
Steve added: “Life can be hard. And if I can help to make it a little easier for someone then I will”
Sonny Barnes told us: “’Be Well’ is part of our wellbeing strategy at the JBC Group. This helps to remind us of the importance of our mental health and our state of wellbeing. Today, with so much awareness around Mental Health, we want our staff to know how much we care. And how much we’re there to support them. By introducing Mental Health First Aiders, we want them to know that if they need to talk, we’re here to listen.”
For information about the Mental Health First Aider qualifications, click here.
If you’ve landed on this page because you need to talk to someone, please contact these confidential support services. Trained volunteers will be there to listen: