MENTAL health issues at work are estimated to cost Scottish employers over £2 billion every year, which is £970 per employee.
On Thursday 30 August, leading local mental health charity, Health in Mind, is launching resolve, a new service offering personalised solutions to enable employees experiencing stress to continue or return to work effectively.
Chief executive, Gwenn McCreath, explained that 40 per cent of all sick days are attributed to mental ill health and at any one time, nearly one in six employees will be affected by a mental health condition such as stress, depression or anxiety.
She highlighted that the purpose of resolve is to support employees to develop strategies to get back to work.
“resolve was set up as a social enterprise with funding from the Scottish Government Enterprise Growth Fund,” she said. “The resolve approach is completely different in that employers know up front what the costs are and the length of time involved.
“Employees receive a tailored Wellbeing Package which develops the employee’s coping strategies.
“The approach is solution focussed and at the end of the period, they have a set of bespoke materials to help them move forward.”
resolve aims to support employers, managers and employees by taking the issues affecting performance and productivity out of the work place and into a safe environment.
resolve’s business manager, Wendy Bates, commented that some of the common signs of stress in the workplace to look out for include mood swings, poor performance, more days off sick, out of character behaviour and changes in personal appearance.
“Using a guided self-help approach, the employee is supported by a psychologist qualified to use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approaches during four one-hour sessions, over a six-to-eight week period,” said Wendy.
Guided Self Help is recommended by NHS Scotland and NICE (the National Institute of Clinical Excellence) as an effective treatment for anxiety and mild to moderate depression.
Gordon Henderson, senior development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, commented: “Services such as the one offered by resolve will enable employers to demonstrate their duty of care in a practical way to help members of staff cope with returning to work.
“Small businesses are fantastic places to work and services such as this will allow employers to emphasise that they have the interests of their staff at heart.
“Ultimately, if employees feel well they will enjoy their job and be productive, which is to everyone’s benefit.”
The resolve team can be contacted at the MWB Business Exchange, 9-10 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2AF or telephone 0131 718 6003 or 07725 323 769.
ENDS
For further information contact Health in Mind communications manager, Doreen Graham, tel: 0131 243 0137 or email doreen@health-in-mind.org.uk.
Notes for editors:
The Enterprise Growth Fund is a £6m Scottish Government Fund. The Fund is making strategic investments in ambitious and enterprising third sector organisations enabling them to develop, grow and become more sustainable. It supports third sector organisations to realise their full potential and to make a key contribution to the National Outcomes of the Scottish Government. The Enterprise Growth Fund is managed by the Wise Group with consortium partners CEiS, DSL and Social Value Lab.
Health in Mind is a registered Scottish Charity providing a range of mental health and wellbeing services including information, support, training and talking therapies.
MEDIA RELEASE posted by Health in Mind. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
Contact: Doreen Graham
Phone: 07590009953
Email: doreen@health-in-mind.org.uk
Website: http://www.resolvescotland.org.uk
