Clive Owen LLP has invested in the mental health and wellbeing of its 100 staff in Darlington, Durham, and York and supported four colleagues to undertake an NVQ Level 2 in Mental Health Awareness.
The course, delivered by Darlington-based Corporate Personal Fitness, is the only fully online NVQ in the UK that incorporates mental health first aid. Although online, the learning incorporates live webinars to enable participants to fully immerse themselves in the training.
The purpose of the qualification is to provide learners with an understanding and awareness of mental health, common mental health disorders and issues, help reduce stigma and discrimination and encourage people to talk about mental health.
The course also provides the ability to apply their knowledge of mental health through recognising and responding to the signs of mental ill health in themselves and others and be able to offer mental health first aid to people experiencing issues.
Bridget Charlton and Melanie Goodall from the Darlington office, Keith Goodall from Durham and Kimberley Nicholls who works in York all achieved the qualification, meaning Clive Owen LLP has a fully trained mental health representative and first aider at each of its offices.
Clive Owen LLP has previously partnered with Corporate Personal Fitness for a series of seminars and webinars to ensure the firm’s culture is one of inclusion, empathy, and support. The firm recognises that good mental health is important regardless of whether a person lives with mental illness.
Caroline Bowerbank, HR & training manager at Clive Owen LLP, “We have various strategies to promote and support the mental wellbeing of all our colleagues. As a Mental Health First Aider myself, I am delighted that we now have a representative at each of our three offices so that all of our employees can benefit.
The training provided by Corporate Personal Fitness was exactly what we needed, and this qualification is invaluable. It is really important that as a firm we help highlight mental health and support anyone who maybe experiencing poor mental health.”
Louise Tierney, mental health coordinator at Corporate Personal Fitness, said: “In these challenging times the mental health and wellbeing of our workforce has never been so important. Having a strong and resilient team can make a critical difference to the success of a business.
“It is a pleasure to work with forward-thinking companies such as Clive Owen LLP helping them develop a programme of actions as part of their overall corporate wellbeing strategy.”
Melanie Goodall, one of the Darlington team who undertook the training, said: “Caring about how people are and how they are feeling means a lot to me so being able to have the opportunity to have the training was great.
“The thought of being able to support and to be there for someone is a very rewarding feeling. The training has opened up my mind more to the struggles people actually have with their mental health.”