NAViGO, who deliver a range of mental health services across North East Lincolnshire, hosted their Big Business Breakfast at Grimsby Town Hall to reinforce this year's World Mental Health Day theme mental health in the workplace.
Tom Hunter, Chairman of NAViGO, said: "This event is for Mental Health Awareness Day, and this year the theme is mental health in the work place. “Part of our role is to engage with local businesses to promote better mental health – it’s good for the employees, and it’s good for the employers because if we have a healthy work force that is better for us generally. “A part of this is to treat mental health the same as physical health, and to de-stigmatise mental health in the work place."
The event was attended by representatives of businesses across Grimsby, who could speak to members of NAViGO and experience the services they have to offer. Tom believes that mental health isn't taken seriously enough in the work place, and because of this, staff don't feel comfortable reaching out to their employers if they're struggling with stress. “For employers, taking care of physical health is routine, and a lot of employers have difficulty providing support for mental health. It’s about raising awareness, de-stigmatising the issue, and working with our community to promote better mental health. “We want to build closer relationships with local businesses so we can reach out to them, and offer them support. We have lots of services that we can offer to them – we can make sure that businesses in our community understand how to sign post people to our services."
One of these services is provided by Mark Silvester, a retention employment specialist for Open Minds. The organisation, which works as part of NAViGO, provides a bespoke and structured employment support service on a one to one basis.
Mark began providing Grimsby employment giant Young's Seafood with his 'Staying Well in Work' programme three and a half years ago. He works with the company's HR department, helping to keep those at risk of leaving their jobs in employment. He said: "I have worked for 15 years specialising in employment and mental health – preventing people from leaving employment because of stress, depression, or anxiety. For the past three and a half years I've delivered a service to Young's, I've been going to speak to people who are at risk of leaving work due to stress.” "We have around a 90 per cent success rate of keeping people in work. These people have gone back to work and been happier in their jobs," he said. I can’t praise Young's more for their attitude towards mental health – they really strive to put their employees first."
For all the latest from NAViGO Health and Social Care CIC visit www.navigocare.co.uk