When young apprentices enter the workplace, there is awareness that they are at a heightened risk in terms of their own safety.
But often, the risk in regard to their mental health is not considered. However, we know that supporting young people to manage their mental health will have a huge impact on businesses in regard to improving the long-term mental health of an organisation.
With the support of B&CE’s Mowlem grant in 2018, we sought to
develop a training course to raise awareness of mental health in construction apprentices as part of the wider Mates in Mind programme.
We undertook a baseline survey of apprentices to help in ensuring that we could tailor our mental health awareness training and supporting materials to meet their needs. This was conducted online and ran for 12-weeks and was completed by 550 apprentices.
The initiative aimed to increase awareness of mental health and confidence amongst apprentices in knowing where to seek support themselves, and how to reach in and manage that difficult conversation about mental health. Through our work, we wanted to create a legacy for apprentices futures, as approximately 35% of apprentices go on to run their own business.
“The training with the apprentices ran very well. They were receptive to the training with personal experiences of their own. This is a great initiative because the apprentices are just starting their career and I expect as a result of their training they will be supporting the mental health of themselves and their teams for the next 40-50 years.”
Michael
Associate, Tutor
“Extremely beneficial. Should be more widely shared within organisations. Education enables people to feel they can talk about how they are actually feeling.”
Male apprentice
Employer, Swindon
“Excellent – great delivery. Engaging with a good mix of interaction and videos / visual aids.”
Female apprentice
Employer, Swindon
Make a change and become part of the community
If you're interested in finding out more about how we can help you. Whether you're part of a college, a business taking on new apprentices or an organisation looking to bring in more support for its employees. Find out more by requesting a callback by filling out our contact us form.
As a Mates in Mind Supporter, you will have exclusive access to a range of resources, training and support, designed to help you organisation implement their workplace mental health program.
- Access an annual assessment of their programme and a tailored recommendations report to help identify any gaps in their approach
- Free access to our 'Start the Conversation' course, an all-employee general mental health awareness programme
- Access to a dedicated Support Manager to act as a guide through your organisations mental wellbeing journey and offer any new resources as they become available
- Access to a suite of courses to ensure that all levels of management are confident and equipped to fulfil their duties in looking after employee mental health.
- Benefit from counselling through the National Counselling Society at a discounted rate, to help staff members who may need a little extra support
We look forward to welcoming you to our community.