The Shift Review Panel have published their independent review of the Mental Health Foundation's What Works for You? booklet for employers.

The Shift Review Panel assesses the quality and impact of materials designed to help employers promote mental wellbeing and manage mental ill health in the workplace. The panel is funded by Shift, but operates independently.

The review found that What Works for You?:

• explains simple steps people at work can take to support a colleague who is experiencing a mental health problem. It is easy-to-read and engaging and the advice is practical and relevant.
• It includes a short explanation about mental health, and more detail about some common mental health problems.
• There is practical advice about how to talk to someone, listening tips, responding in a crisis and keeping in touch when someone is off sick with a mental health problem.
• The brief section about what you can do as a manager provides some practical guidance on how to deal with someone they think has a mental health problem. It would be helpful to acknowledge in this section that there is much more that you need to do as a manager to support mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
• Overall, the booklet could provide a useful part of an organisations’ mental health management programme, but would probably need to be tailored to each organisation – for example, procedures around reasonable adjustments and Occupational Health advice would differ; and the image on the front would need to be less ‘industrial’ for some organisations. The resource should be made more generic, or alternatively targeted more specifically.
• The leaflet could be useful as a stand-alone item to help ensure people experiencing mental health problems get valuable support from their colleagues.
  

You can download the full review of What Works for You? here

Visit the What Works for You? page on the MHF website

Find out more about the Shift Review Panel here

Tags: shift, reviewpanel, scmh, employment, mhf, mentalhealthfoundation

Managing Stress: The Reality for Small Businesses Business Breakfast

Our partners at Working for Wellness, the London Mental Health and Employment Partnership, are organising a free business breakfast for small businesses looking at issues surrounding stress. The breakfast will take place on Tuesday 2nd March, 8am - 10am at Broadway House, London, SW1H 9NQ

Shift are supporting the event and will be on hand to show our free tools for employers.

If you'd like to find out more about the event, download the flyer here.

You can book your free place here

Tags: employment, employers, event, london, sme

This week sees the launch of four important publications that will shape how we approach mental health and employment over the coming years.

Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action

Working our way to better mental health is the first ever Great Britain-wide mental health and employment strategy, addressing well-being at work for all and better employment results for people with mental health conditions in and out of work.
For more information and to download a copy of the document, visit the Health, Work and Well-being website

Realising ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition

Realising ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition is a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)-commissioned, independent review led by Rachel Perkins. It examines how we can strengthen employment, health and wider state support to help people with mental conditions on out of work benefits.
Download the review and related documents from the DWP website.

Work, Recovery and Inclusion

Work, Recovery and Inclusion is a new government delivery strategy that responds and builds on the recommendations from Realising ambitions. The report is the culmination of the Cabinet Office's Social Exclusion Task Force's work with three other Government departments – Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department of Health and the Department of Work and Pensions. For more information and to download the Work, Recovery and Inclusion report, visit the Cabinet Office website.

New Horizons: A shared vision for mental health

New Horizons: A shared vision for mental health is a cross-government report produced by the Department of Health including commitments to action by 11 government departments. For the first time it sets out a new approach with the twin aims of improving people’s quality of life and well-being, and improving the quality and accessibility of services for people with poor mental health.
For more information and to download a copy of New Horizons, visit the DH website.

Shift's employment resources

Shift has a range of resources to help employers talk about mental health in the workplace and to support and manage staff who have mental health conditions. Shift's resources include:

Companion guide to Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action
The companion guide to Working our way to better mental health was produced by Shift and Health, Work and Well-being (HWWB) and contains a summary of the strategy commitments and up-to-date links to relevant online resources.
Download the document from the HWWB website

Life in the Office films and learning tools
Life in the Office is a series short films designed to promote discussion of mental health and mental illness in the workplace. Employers can also download quizzes and worksheets that can be used as part of education and awareness raising programmes.

Shift Review Panel
The independent Shift Review Panel helps you find the best quality-checked mental health information for employers. The panel can also help organisations looking to produce new materials about mental health and employment.

Shift Line Managers' Resource
Shift's recently updated Line Managers' Resource gives practical advice for managing and supporting people with mental health conditions in the workplace.

Shift Video Seminar
Graham Thornicroft and Diana Rose of the Institute of Psychiatry discuss mental health and employment. Graham and Diana also take part in a role play of a meeting to scope reasonable adjustments for an employee returning to work after a period of illness.

Tags: employment, dh, dwp, hwwb, cabinetoffice, bis, shift

Shift have commissioned the production of a second set of employment films that will be available in the New Year to be used alongside our Life in the Office videos.

The aim of the films is to capture positive stories where employers have effectively supported employees who have or are experiencing mental health problems.

By viewing the films we hope to spread best practice and inform and educate employers on how best to look after the mental well-being of their staff.

January 2010 update
Thank you to everyone who got in touch offering to help us with this project. The response has been fantastic with over 20 people coming forward with positive stories. The filming has now started and the first edits are due to be looked at over the next few weeks. The stories that have been captured on film are inspirational and we hope they will help others see mental health in the workplace in a new light.

If you have any questions about this project, please contact Claire Newall at Shift on 020 7307 2445 or by emailing claire.newall@nmhdu.org.uk.

Tags: employment, films

Tomorrow (4th November 2009) is National Stress Awareness Day. You can help get yourself prepared with Shift's employment materials.

Click the link below for details. Read More...

Tags: employment

Shift are looking for real life accounts from either employees or employers who can talk about what works when managing mental health in the workplace.

These accounts will be filmed and put on our website and on to DVDs for distribution to employers in England.

The films will aim to reduce the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health and are a means to educate, inform and spread best practice. By being filmed you will be making a real contribution towards creating change.

Click here for more about information about the films and to find out how you can get involved.
Read More...

Tags: shift, employment, films, employers, employees

Shift has published an updated version of the Line Managers' Resource, a document that gives practical advice to managing and supporting people with mental health conditions in the workplace.

The resource is written for managers and recognises that workplace settings are vast and very diverse. It offers practical advice on managing and supporting people who are experiencing stress, distress and mental health conditions.

You can use it both to learn good practice in preparation for when an employee or employees are off on mental health grounds and to support their return to work.

The resource aims to directly address the fear, ignorance and stigma around engaging with someone experiencing mental health problems. The key message is that it is important to talk openly and with trust. The guide suggests practical steps that you and your employees can take together to:

• match the job requirements with the employee’s capabilities
  
• maintain regular contact with staff to identify any problems early
  
• talk at an early stage of distress to prevent the problem escalating
  
• keep in touch during sickness absence to offer support and plan for the return to work
  
• achieve a successful return to work
  
• manage a long-term illness whilst remaining in work, and
  
• access sources of support and information.

The accompanying website also provides advice and information for employees to help them to assess their own needs and plan for meetings with their manager.

It is part of Shift’s Action on Stigma initiative aimed at supporting employers to promote good mental health and reduce discrimination and is a revised edition of the original Line Managers’ Resource (LMR) published in 2007. The original LMR was itself an update of the Mind Out for Mental Health Line Managers’ Resource published in 2003.

We have produced the resource in partnership with the Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions, Health and Safety Executive, Cross-Government Health Work Wellbeing Delivery Unit and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Find out more about these partners.

• Visit the Shift Line Managers' Web Resource to read the resource online and to download electronic copies.

Tags: shift, employers, employment, lmr

The Shift Review Panel have published their independent review of Shaw Trust's Tackle Mental Health website.

The Shift Review Panel assesses the quality and impact of materials designed to help employers promote mental wellbeing and manage mental ill health in the workplace. The panel is funded by Shift, but operates independently.

The review found that the Tackle Mental Health website:

• Is an excellent one-stop shop packed full of practical information and easy-to-use solutions to help managers to support staff who are dealing with mental health issues.
• Is very well designed and easy to use.
• The website is aimed at employers of any size, and from all sectors.
• The content is factually correct and evidence-based.
• There is a comprehensive section about the DDA and employers’ legal duties related to mental health issues in the workplace, and a full explanation about reasonable adjustments.
• There is a section on creating a healthy workplace, including information about HSE Management Standards and how to tackle stress at work; and guidance on developing a mental health policy. However, there are some gaps in evidence-based good practice here – the section could be revised when the NICE Guidelines on this are published in October 2009.
• Overall a valuable website providing practical and affordable solutions for employers and employees and helping raise awareness about mental health issues in the workplace.
  

You can download the full review of the Tackle Mental Health website here

Visit Shaw Trust's Tackle Mental Health website

Find out more about the Shift Review Panel here

Tags: shift, reviewpanel, scmh, employment, shawtrust

We're currently updating our Line Managers' Resource booklet and website to further improve the guidance we give to people managing and supporting people with mental health problems in the workplace.

As part of this work, we are looking for real life accounts from either employees or employers who can talk about times where employers have put into practice measures that have promoted and supported the mental well-being of staff. These accounts will be included in the resource and/or website.

Click the 'read more' link below for further information. Read More...

Tags: shift, employment, casestudies

The Community Channel will be broadcasting Shift's Life in the Office short films, starting today. The channel will also be showing a new programme in which actor Brett Findlay talks about his role in the films and his own experience of mental health problems.

You can tune in to the Community Channel on Sky channel 539, Virgin TV channel 233 and, between the hours of 6-9am, on Freeview channel 87.

• Find out when Shift's employment films are being shown on the Community Channel
  
• Watch the films online and download related materials
  
• Find out about other upcoming programmes featuring mental health issues

Tags: lifeintheoffice, employment, films

Shift has launched three short films to encourage staff and employers to think about mental health at work.

The films can be viewed online at http://shift.org.uk/employers

• Watch Bernies reaction to someone with ‘problems upstairs’
• See if you can relate to Pauls frustration at the photocopier
• Feel the anxiety when Sarah returns to work and finds that not everyone is as welcoming as she had hoped.

The films are aimed at employers and employees who do not consider mental health problems to be a workplace issue. We hope that the films will reach new audiences and link more people in to the existing support structures.

We are very interested to hear any feedback about these films. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact claire.newall@csip.org.uk

To watch the films, visit http://www.shift.org.uk/employers

Tags: employment, shift, films, videos, youtube, lifeintheoffice

The Shift Review Panel's first set of reviews are now available.

The Shift Review Panel assesses the quality and impact of materials designed to help employers promote mental wellbeing and manage mental ill health in the workplace. The panel is funded by Shift, but operates independently.

Find out more about the Shift Review Panel here

Tags: shift, reviewpanel, scmh, employment