At FD Consultants we offer a full-day ‘Mental Health Awareness’ Workshop for Managers. We have divided this workshop into two half days as we are currently offering this remotely. “As a manager I now have the tools and confidence to manage mental health challenges in the workplace.” The workshop provides managers with the tools, knowledge and understanding of how to support the mental health of staff members and their teams. We have found that managers often feel less confident dealing with psychological health issues compared to physical health problems. Due to living and working through a pandemic we are all impacted psychologically, and mental health is being discussed more openly. Organisations need to have procedures in place to encourage and promote discussions about the mental health and wellbeing of staff in the workplace. This workshop provides managers with evidence-based techniques and models to support staff psychologically. We explore many of the common mental health disorders, so managers can identify specific mental health issues in the workplace and be alerted to early warning signs. We discuss risk issues, mental health myths, and the management of suicidal ideation. We share various leadership models to improve communication and listening skills. We share an easy to use ‘Wellness Action Plan’ that managers can refer to when supporting someone with mental health issues. “This is the best workshop I have attended in the nine years I have worked at my organisation.” Living and working through a pandemic and managing staff remotely is challenging therefore managers will learn how to support staff through this unprecedented time. The workshop will create a universal language to discuss issues of mental health and wellbeing throughout the organisation, and in turn challenge the erosive impact of stigma. If you or your organisation would like more information on any of our courses, then do get in touch with us today. Check out our website www.fdconsultants.net or email us directly [email protected]
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Throughout March 2020 we are exploring mental health services for national staff. When international organisations are developing psychological support structures for their staff, the level of provision in country has to be part of the conversation, both for national and international staff. At FD Consultants, we have the capacity and knowledge to build robust support pathways for teams across the globe. We have carried out extensive mapping to understand where services exist in country, and where they are not adequate. Where information is lacking, we can carry out research to understand what services are on offer. Where services are lacking, we have the capacity to deliver specialist services. We also have associates in countries across the world, with whom we have personal experience of working. All of our therapists have gone through a robust interview and assessment process; they are accredited with demonstrable experience working with trauma. Our therapists are culturally competent, drawn from the countries in which they provide services. We do all of this to ensure that we can provide the best possible mental health care for all people. FD Consultants offer psychosocial support and trauma specialist services, including supporting organisations and staff through a critical incident. Staff working in the Humanitarian and Human Rights sector are at significant risk of psychological ill-health. National and local staff experience high levels of trauma symptoms, depression and anxiety; often living and breathing trauma every day whilst trying to survive in warzones or conflict-ridden environments, and also coping with everyday adversities, such as lack of food, clean water and access to medical care. Lack of security and a deteriorating situation has a great impact on the mental health of a population.
After working on wellbeing projects in Gaziantep and South Sudan we recorded 41% of the Turkish and Syrian staff, and 54% of the staff based in South Sudan, were experiencing high levels of trauma symptoms (suggesting a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]). One of the organisations increased organisational resilience by senior staff attending psychological support sessions, challenging stigma and role modelling good self-care. The importance of peer support, building collaborative working with local services, or training local services (if necessary), enables psychosocial support to become accessible and continuous, rather than a ‘tick box’ exercise, that can leave staff feeling resentful and perplexed. The goal of peer support is in developing systems and practices that develop internal sustainability around wellbeing. If staff are being supported on a regular, on-going basis, the goal is that wellbeing is improved, the impact of chronic and traumatic stress is mitigated, and the need for specialised services is reduced. One aid worker summed up how she felt her national colleagues were supported, ‘My experience and that of many other aid workers is that national staff support is either non-existent or sub-par. As far as I know there are no psychosocial care options provided for national staff. They don’t get health insurance and the only psychosocial care international staff are offered is via our health insurance - and normally resources have to be found back in-home countries. Some options exist for [remote] support but it isn’t set up for national staff to access. It is a massive service gap.’ ‘Local staff working in conflict contexts are exposed to risk and critical incidents on a regular basis and often carry previous traumas from having grown up in a violent conflict context or having been a refugee from a young age. We seem to completely ignore this fact and apply such double standards (NGO wellbeing officer). At FD Consultants we offer peer support training, psychological screening and trauma awareness training. If you want to find out more about how to best support national staff please email us on [email protected]. Fiona Dunkley (Founder of FD Consultants) For organisations looking for employee psychological support, FD Consultants are the trauma specialists and well-being service who will best deliver a reliable, quick, and bespoke support system in the workplace. FD Consultant’s team of accredited specialists will offer ongoing support to help manage stress, prevent burnout and provide specialist trauma care where required, enabling your staff with the tools to cope, and recover more quickly. Get in touch with us today Organisations need to implement prevention services as much as treatment services when supporting staff mental health.
FD Consultants is a global psychological health consultancy. We find that organisations use our services after an incident occurs to offer ‘treatment’ services to staff to help the organisation and individual recover. This is an important part of mental health support. But at FD Consultants, we want to do more than treat crises. We want to encourage organisations to invest in ‘prevention’ services, so as to build stronger and more resilient organisations and workforce. Preparing staff for the journey ahead, by providing strategies for resilience building and informing them of the stress signs to watch out for, will reduce the risk of mental health issues in the workplace. At FD Consultants our ‘crisis response’ services make up 70% of the work we carry out. Organisations reach out for our support when managing a critical incident. We can offer ‘crisis management support’ to senior managers, ‘psychological debriefs’, ‘psychological first aid’, and ‘trauma specialist counselling’ to help the organisation and individual recover from a major crisis. We specialise in trauma care and have therapists trained in EMDR and TF-CBT (trauma approaches recommended by WHO, APA, NICE). Our prevention services make up 30% of the work we do; this consists of several training programmes such as, ‘stress management’, ‘trauma awareness’, ‘peer support programmes’, and ‘family liaison training’. We also offer ‘pre-deployment consultations’ and ‘yearly mental health screening’ for staff. We want to encourage organisations to integrate prevention measures to support staff into their framework. This can improve an organisation’s culture and create a healthy and resilient organisation. By giving staff the tools to recognise the signs of stress, trauma, burnout or compassion fatigue, we enable them to reach out for support when necessary. Research has shown that the earlier someone gets support, the quicker they will recover and can prevent long-term illness. In our workshops staff learn how to manage healthy boundaries and identify destructive communication patterns, enabling them to take some responsibility in their own self-care. The research I conducted when writing my book “Psychosocial Support for Humanitarian Aid Workers: A Roadmap of Trauma and Critical Incident Care” (Dunkley, 2018) highlighted that emergency first responders and aid workers often ‘overlooked their own self-care for the greater cause.’ We need to change an organisational culture from the ‘bottom up and the top down’. ‘Top down’ is where senior leadership role-model good self-care and prioritise implementing best practice mental health services for staff. Stress, anxiety and trauma are contagious, if senior managers are struggling it will cause a ripple effect throughout an organisation. Which is why FD Consultants offer mental health awareness trainings specifically for managers. ‘Bottom up’ change recognises that all staff are responsible for managing their work/life balance and healthy boundaries. Individuals need to be empowered to take responsibility for themselves and give themselves permission to say ‘No’ when work is unsustainable, rather than work themselves into the ground. If we take a helpless, victim role, and focus all our energy on expecting ‘top down’ to change or ‘save us’ we will only be left feeling resentful and make ourselves ill. Our workshops make sure we cover ‘top down’ as well as ‘bottom up’ strategies for building resilience. Staff who are exposed to traumatic material through their work, whether directly or indirectly, are at risk of vicarious trauma. Staff who work in emergency first response, mental health charities and the humanitarian sector often have high-pressure jobs, with demanding workloads, including unsociable hours or shift work. Therefore, we recommend all staff attend our half-day ‘stress management and resilience building’ workshop as part of their induction process. Additionally, members of staff whose work exposes them to traumatic material, directly or indirectly, should attend our half-day ‘vicarious trauma and trauma awareness workshop’. Instigating ‘mental health peer support’ programmes into an organisation can help challenge stigma and create a healthy organisational culture. Peer support programmes are cost effective and can help reach staff that are in remote locations, or have limited access to psychosocial support. Additionally, ‘yearly mental health screening’ programmes will safeguard staff from risk of developing mental health issues due to the nature of the work. This service will also highlight when an individual may need additional support. Identifying mental health risk early can improve recovery rates and work performance. Make 2020 the year your organisation implements high quality, best practice, psychosocial support services for staff. For organisations looking for employee psychological support, FD Consultants are the trauma specialists and well-being service who will best deliver a reliable, quick, and bespoke support system in the workplace. FD Consultant’s team of accredited specialists will offer ongoing support to help manage stress, prevent burnout and provide specialist trauma care where required, enabling your staff with the tools to cope, and recover more quickly. |
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