Do we need first aiders in the workplace?

For a moment stop and pause…is that even a question anyone can dream of asking? From when I started working as a student at a local garden centre through to working for large corporate organisations it was a given that first aiders are essential. When it comes to physical first aid, it is accepted that the person who is trained is not a nurse, doctor or surgeon – they are simply there to help when an immediate issue rises where professional help is needed. If you break your arm the first aider will not set your arm to heal it, but they will likely look to apply a sling and call an ambulance. I suspect at this point as you read this, we are aligned that we do need first aiders in the workplace.

So, I pose the next question – do we need mental health first aiders in the workplace?

For some reason, this topic raises concerns and is possibly due to the many years that mental health was not so widely spoken about. To help answer that question the team at Health of Business reached out to Ouch Training to better understand and be trained so that we could come to our own conclusion. The team at Ouch were extremely supportive and we would be very confident in recommending their training services to any of our current and future clients. From real life experiences, theoretical and practical exercises it was great to know that the Health of Business team is more equipped both in work but also outside of work to step in and offer help to someone in need.

This raised what we thought was our final question – how many mental health first aiders does an organisation need? However, this was soon superseded by the question – who in the organisation shouldn’t be trained to support others?

This last question is a really tough question and is simply a reframe of the situation – if you would like to learn more about the experience that we had on our mental health first aid training please do reach out directly to any of the Health of Business team.

Our thought is simple – offer the training to everyone who wishes to learn more about this life saving support. For more information on mental health training visit Mental Health First Aid Training (ouchtraining.co.uk), or reach out to us at Health of Business - enquiries@healthofbusiness.com