Ben, the not-for-profit organisation that partners with the automotive industry to provide support to its people, has announced the launch of a mental health training programme.
The new service sees Ben working in partnership with employers to raise awareness about mental health, manage mental health in the workplace and provide practical tools for individuals to help them better manage their mental health.
The courses are designed for people working in the automotive industry and are suitable for all organisations. Ben is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the UK automotive workforce and operates as a not-for-profit organisation. The training has already been successfully provided to some of Ben’s automotive industry partners.
Through BenTraining, the charity delivers real business benefits of improved productivity and reduced absenteeism. The development of this new service is in direct response to the increase in demand for mental health related help from people in the automotive industry. Ben received a 78% increase in requests for help from people about their mental health during 2016-17, compared to 2015-16. This could be due to mental health becoming a hot topic on the news agenda and testament to the awareness raised through Ben’s ‘Hats on 4 Mental Health Day’.
The focus on training is also a response to the growing need for mental health related support for both employers and employees as outlined in the recent government report, ‘Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers’. The report states that the UK faces a significant mental health challenge at work and that 300,000 people with a long-term medical health problem lose their jobs each year. In the automotive industry, this could potentially equate to over 8,000 people. Mental health in the workplace also has a major impact on UK businesses, with a cost of between £33 billion and £42 billion per year.
With this in mind, BenTraining can help build resilience within automotive organisations, providing managers and employees with the skills, knowledge and confidence to recognise and address issues affecting them and the business as a whole. BenTraining is one of the four key elements of Ben4Business, which launched in September. Ben4Business brings together the services that Ben offers to industry partners in one package, consisting of a range of digital and workplace awareness initiatives and new training programmes. To find out more, visit www.ben.org.uk/Ben4Business.
Sharon Ashcroft, HR Director at TrustFord, said: “I’m so glad that earlier this year we teamed up with Ben and trained all of our managers in how to deal with mental health issues. We also held workshops for all our colleagues to raise awareness and give them the confidence to be comfortable to let their manager know if they were suffering.”
Jools Tait, Business Development Director at Ben, said: “Our aim is to support the people working in the automotive industry with any mental health challenges they face, as well as to provide their managers with training so that they know how to support them. We believe that, through BenTraining, automotive businesses will benefit from reduced absence and improved productivity in their workforces.
“According to our figures, we have seen a big increase in demand for help with mental health issues from those working in our industry over the last year. We are therefore responding to this growing need by providing this important training service, as part of our new Ben4Business programme. We are committed to developing the relevant services needed to prevent people from suffering in silence as well as help them remain resilient to the challenges that life brings.”
Training programmes
There is a full day’s training programme available for managers to help them support employees, and a series of short masterclasses for employees to enable them to cope with life’s challenges:
Training for managers
- Managing mental health in the workplace
Masterclasses for employees
- Coping with stress
- Work-life balance (coming soon)
- Mindfulness for beginners (coming soon)
The full brochure can be found on the charity’s website: www.ben.org.uk/ben-for-business/ben-training/
