© 2014 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Mental Health First Aid

James Males/Pam DhariwalFebruary 14th, 2018

Agenda

What is Mental Health?

Why is it important to raise awareness about mental health?

What are VMware doing to address this?

Meet the VMware MHFA Team

What is the role of a Mental Health First Aider?

Useful contacts

What is Mental Health?

Myth: Only certain people experience mental health problems

Fact: Anyone can experience a mental health problem, at any time

Myth: Mental health problems are rare

Fact: 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime.

Myth: People who are high performers do not suffer from mental health issues

Fact: Mental ill heath does not discriminate

Mental Health is: Our emotional, psychological, and social well-being

affecting how we think, feel, and act

What are the causes of mental ill health?Many causes of mental ill health are related to problems outside of the workplace such as bereavement,

, relationship breakdown, financial difficulties or physical ill health,

But there are also common workplace causes such as:

What impact does mental ill health have in the workplace?

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Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development study

on mental ill health in the workplace found that:

➢ 37% of sufferers are more likely to get into conflict with colleagues

➢ 57% find it harder to juggle multiple tasks

➢ 80% find it difficult to concentrate

➢ 62% take longer to do tasks

➢ 50% are potentially less patient with customers/clients.

The study also found that stress is the major cause of long-term

absence from the workplace

Spotting the signs

CognitivelyEmotionally

Behaviorally Physically

Employees who are struggling with their mental health may find it affects them:

How can it be tackled?

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It is, therefore, important to:

➢ Improve mental health awareness in the organisation

➢ Tackle the causes of work-related mental ill health

➢ Create a workplace culture where staff feel able to talk about their mental health

➢ Support staff who are experiencing mental ill health

Getting rid of the stigma associated with mental health

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➢ Lack of understanding about mental health

➢ Creates a fear of being judged or discriminated against

➢ Discourages people from talking about their mental health

and seeking help early

But attitudes are changing and organisations are

beginning to address this

So what are VMware doing to address this stigma?

➢Raise awareness

➢Ensure leaders champion awareness of mental health

➢Create a culture of understanding and support

➢Support colleagues experiencing mental ill health to come forward and seek help

➢ Introducing the Mental Health First Aid Team

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Meet the MHFA team

Sian Bowles James Males Richard NicholasCarole Valette

Rudolf Engmann

Sean HarrisLucy Lawrence Sarah Swatman

Pam Dhariwal

Chris Bareford

Marco CristaldiMichael Stone

➢ The MHFA team attended a

training course with Mental Health

First Aid England

➢ VMware now have 12 Mental

Health First Aiders who are fully

accredited in their roles

➢ Present in the Staines, Milton

Keynes and Manchester Offices

➢ Identifiable via:

▪ the noticeboards

▪ Yellow lanyards

▪ Email signatures

What is the role of a Mental Health First Aider?

➢ To be a point of contact to help people find appropriate

professional support

➢ To spot the early signs and try to mitigate risk of the problem

snowballing

➢And if needed, to be a friendly local face who can listen without

any preconceptions or prejudice

➢ To ensure people understand these conversations will

be had in complete confidence

➢MHFA is not a therapist, counsellor or psychologist

➢MHF Aiders are not taught to diagnose mental health

conditions

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Other Support & Resources

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)➢ VMware employees 24/7 free and confidential helpline ➢ Contact details for UK 0800 282 193

AXA PPP – Private Medical Insurance➢UK based.➢ Includes access to “Stronger Minds” ➢Contact details: 0345 600 2072

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) ➢Awareness sessions ➢Next session: 21 Feb: 1pm- 4pm, Staines➢Already accredited?

Unum➢VMware & Dell Office support

External sourcese.g. MHFA England, Mind, Remploy, Samaritans

Unum Support services

What’s next?

• April/May

• Stress Awareness 2 ½ hour workshop for line managers

• Workplace Wellbeing 1 hour lunch and learn session for all employees

• Workshops will be run in Staines and Milton Keynes

• April - July

• 2 more Mental Health First Aid two day sessions for employees across NEMEA to be accredited as MHFAiders, ideally so that there is minimum of 1 MHFAider in each NEMEA country

• “Train the trainer” roll out of MHFA training to widen coverage and tailor training to VMware’s business for maximum impact

© 2014 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

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