Trained and ready to help
January 31 2018Volunteer workers from Plymouth Mail Centre have been presented with their Livewell Mental Health First-Aid certificates after undergoing a two-day workplace training course.
The initiative was initially set in motion by MDEC worker Jo Davies, who set up 24/7 Minds with some fellow workers in order to provide initial support and advice for colleagues experiencing difficult emotional and mental health difficulties.
“I was diagnosed with a bi-polar disorder illness six years ago and had to take some time off work,” she says, adding that there was a marked difference between the way others responded to this compared to another occasion when she had been off work due to a physical condition.
“People visited me, sent me ‘get well soon’ messages and generally rallied round when I had the physical injury, but when I was off due to the bi-polar diagnosis I felt as if people were keeping away from me.
“It brought home to me the stigma around mental health issue and the way that people don’t seem to know how to respond,” she explains.
At Plymouth MDEC, which is now located within the Plymouth Mail Centre, Jo and her fellow volunteers set up a 24/7 Minds committee.
The 11 volunteers who underwent the Mental Health First-Aid training were presented with their certificates by the site manager Mark Peard, who Jo says has been “very supportive” of the initiative, granting the time for the Mental Health first-aid training and the group’s activities.
“We’re able to use the on-site learning centre as an informal ‘drop-in’ centre, where people can arrange to come in and for our activities and the help and advice we offer is available to everyone on the site,” says Jo, who adds that the group also sponsors a local children’s football team.
“Other people from other Royal Mail sites in Plymouth and also from other parts of the country have been in touch with us about 24/7 Minds. We have a 24/7 Minds Facebook page and our hope is that this could be a facility available in every office.”