Suffolk Mind offers businesses mental health training as worker wellbeing worsens

Wellbeing training is now available for Suffolk businesses as the number of people struggling with mental health issues continues to rise.

Coinciding with World Mental Health Day, Felixstowe charity Suffolk Mind has launched its mental health toolkit, offering virtual lessons for employers to support mental health in the workplace.

These cover 12 areas, including ensuring workers get enough sleep, regular movement, social interaction, and more.

New data from the charity said the number of workers not meeting their emotional needs has climbed to 65 per cent, up from 50 per cent last year.

It previously called on businesses to support employee wellbeing as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.

Jon Neal, the CEO of Suffolk Mind, said the rise was concerning.

He added: "As we spend most of our time in the workplace, whether that’s in person or remotely, it’s important to have a safe environment where our mental health is looked after.

"With The Mental Health Toolkit, employers can gain the skills needed to ensure their workforce is supported, as well as being able to identify when colleagues are facing challenges."

Suffolk Mind said the lessons also offer advice on stress management.

They allow workers to not only support themselves, but also those around them, it noted.

Karen Holmes from Suffolk Mind said the tools could be applied by anyone, with many key benefits coming from

She added: “Not only does it provide easily digestible skills to support us in our professional environment, but those skills can also be adopted to our personal lives, as well as being used to support our loved ones.

“It’s not just the people who benefit too. When a business has a happy and well-supported workforce, it will experience improved productivity and staff retention.”