Mental Health Support

Mental Health Support

Mental health, defined by the World Health Organization, is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.

Being mentally healthy doesn’t just mean that you don’t have a mental health problem.

We all have times when we feel down or stressed or frightened. Most of the time those feelings pass but sometimes they develop into a more serious problem and that could happen to any one of us. This is why we have formed a mental health group to allow colleagues to express their feelings and to support one another.

Tops & Aspire have mental health reps across Tops, Head Office and Aspire Training Team who are there to support colleagues should they need any help with issues surrounding mental health.

We have meetings every couple of months to discuss issues/topics that may have arisen during the last few months and this is done confidentially, mentioning no names and no judgement, so that we can learn from each other. During these meetings we also discuss other ways that we can help and support colleagues, discuss ways of using Facebook/other social media platforms to make more awareness of mental health and look at how the community around us can support our colleagues further. We are also very keen on ensuring that we have as many tools on hand which we can obtain from doctors surgeries etc and pass out to colleagues so that they can get started on their journey to recovery.

If the mental health reps are unsure of how to deal with a situation then they will call me as the Mental Health First Aider, to speak with me about it and get further support.

Each mental health rep doesn’t just look after colleagues in their own settings they can assist other colleagues across the business, this is so colleagues who do not want to speak to someone they work with can continue to get support from someone else.

We help over the phone, across email or face to face. It is important to remember that we are not counsellors, we are purely here to offer guidance and support, sign posting the colleague to the professionals where necessary.

Should a colleague discuss a work issue, we may need to involve their line manager and this will be done with the colleagues consent.

Similarly, should we need to contact the professionals on their behalf or the police or other emergency services then we will do so following a discussion with the colleague. Should the matter be of a serious nature, we can contact emergency services without their consent if they are causing harm to themselves or to others.

If you would like more information don’t hesitate to email Sarah at Sarah.Harley@topsdaynurseries.co.uk