For Mental Health Awareness Week (14th-18th May), Ben showed support for automotive industry colleagues who are struggling with mental health issues, by launching new content and tools to help them.
Ben, the not-for-profit organisation that partners with the automotive industry to provide support for life to its people and their family dependents, revealed some key insights from its work supporting people in the sector.
Mental health issues were the second biggest concern for automotive industry people in 2017, accounting for 31% of all contacts to Ben’s helpline.
Additionally, the most popular pieces of online blog content on Ben’s website are around anxiety, with over 10,000 views, and depression, with over 5,000 views (April 2017 to April 2018). Anxiety and depression are also regularly in the top five reasons why people seek support from Ben’s helpline.
This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week focused on stress in particular and questioned whether ‘we are coping’. Ben has some useful resources to help people deal with stress, which if not managed, can contribute to (or worsen) mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, amongst others.
New tool – Anxiety and stress check
Ben has launched a new tool on its website to help people check their anxiety and stress levels:
- Anxiety and stress assessment tool: click here
BenTraining – Mental health training
Ben launched its first training service last year, which offers support and guidance specifically around mental health and well-being. The programme equips both managers and employees with new skills to help them deal with difficult issues, with training for managers and masterclasses for employees. This important service sees Ben working with businesses 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. So far, the charity has trained around 2,500 people in the industry around their mental health and well-being. Click here to find out more.
Zara Ross, Chief Executive of Ben, said, “This Mental Health Awareness Week, we wanted to make sure that the people of the automotive industry know we are here for them when they need us. The automotive industry continues to go through a challenging time and this means that, now more than ever, we need to be there for the people who keep it running, day in, day out.
“We are here for employers too and our mental health training in the workplace has proven really popular and effective. At Ben, we are well placed to advise automotive employers of the potential issues currently facing their employees so they can offer the relevant support.”
Ben provides information, tools and advice on mental health and well-being to the automotive community to help people tackle the challenges they face.
