Proactive Mental Wellbeing
Our client was…
A Housing Association based in the North providing housing, maintenance and repairs service for its tenants, as well as a portfolio of private housing for sale. Covering a large geographical area, the client has offices and depots in several locations with more than 210 dedicated personnel.
They needed…
A mental wellbeing programme that would cover such topics as anxiety, stress and depression giving attendees a basic understanding of key mental health conditions that staff may encounter with their tenants or indeed their colleagues. The emphasis was very much on the practical things that they could do. This progressive organisation takes its responsibility towards the mental wellbeing of its staff very seriously.
So we…
Assessed the organisation’s needs and recommended that they developed a mental health policy to form the basis of a long-term commitment to the mental health of their staff. In addition, the policy would provide guidance for managers who identified someone experiencing difficulties. We then designed 2 hour bite-size sessions on various aspects of mental health that were delivered on site to keep costs low. The sessions were open to all staff with delegates attending from finance, housing, maintenance and management.
It was important that the management team also experienced a programme that would meet their additional needs and responsibilities, so a one day management skills workshop was developed and delivered.
Afterwards, Jasbir Bangerh, Head of HR and Customer Contact at Chevin Housing Group said…
“Bite-size session delegates have changed their lives for the better, they have been helped to connect with some of their anxieties and make changes to their perceptions. In addition, staff are more aware of the signs of stress – this improves their ability to demonstrate empathy for colleagues. This has resulted in improvements in behaviour from many staff. Furthermore, early indications are that staff sick absence has been reduced. I am pleased that staff are now more equipped to manage tricky situations with tenants, from aggression to hallucinations or depression.”
