Centre for Mental Health

Training helps line managers respond to mental ill health at work, new evidence shows

9 October 2010

Training managers in how to respond to a colleague with depression or anxiety can help them to do the right thing, according to data published this month in the journal Occupational Health [at Work].

The study, 'Responding to mental distress at work', by Helen Lockett and Bob Grove, shows that line managers who participated in Centre for Mental Health's Impact on Depression training were better able to help people to cope at work and signpost them on to treatment eight months after being trained.

It shows that immediate improvements in participants' knowledge about depression, attitudes towards people with mental health problems, and willingness and confidence to help were all sustained in the eight months that followed. More than 40 per cent of participants had used the skills they learnt in training in a real life situation in that time. Many had been able to notice that a colleague was in distress. Some had been able to signpost someone to treatment and others had organised support and adjustments at work to enable someone to stay at work or to help them to return after a period of sickness absence.

Centre for Mental Health joint chief executive Professor Bob Grove said: "At any one time, one worker in six in the UK is experiencing a mental health problem. Depression and anxiety are the most common, and they affect every workplace in the country, big or small. For too many people, unnoticed and untreated mental distress leads to protracted periods of absence and loss of job and income.

"Impact on Depression is designed to help businesses to respond earlier and better to mental distress among their most valuable asset: their workers. Based on the National Workplace Programme, of beyondblue: the National Depression Initiative, Australia, Impact on Depression offers workplaces brief training in how to spot the signs of distress, how to respond well and where to signpost people to additional support.

"We know that a positive response from line managers and other colleagues can make all the difference to someone who is in distress. We have now been able to show that Impact on Depression gives managers the confidence and competence to respond well when they need to. Simple, inexpensive measures like this could save every British business up to £300 every year for each person they employ."