Mental Health Blog

Free online mental health courses are everywhere now, and more people are choosing them over a course with a live instructor. I understand the appeal, no booking a date, no cost, done in your own time. But I think this shortcut is costing people more than they realise, and I want to explain exactly why. What a self-paced course with no instructor can't do It can't answer a question when something doesn't quite make sense It can't be interrogated. You can't push back on a point, ask "but what if..." or explore something that's bothering you It can't notice when someone in front of a screen is starting to feel overwhelmed It can't adjust its pace or tone for the person actually taking it It can't create great discussions It can't facilitate you to connect with a group of individuals going through the same learning A good instructor does all of this, in real time, without the learner even needing to ask. Why the questions matter so much Mental health first aid content can bring up difficult things. Someone in the room might be thinking of a colleague, a friend, or even themselves. With a live instructor, there's a person there to: Take that question seriously, in a friendly, open way Help someone work through what's actually bothering them Spot the signs when a topic is landing too close to home, and respond to that person directly None of that happens on a video that just keeps playing regardless of how someone watching is doing. What's lost without a group A free online course is usually a solo experience. That means losing: The chance to hear how other people would actually handle a difficult conversation Practising an awkward conversation out loud, not just reading about one The reassurance of realising other people in the room have the exact same worries Learning from other people's questions, not just your own A huge amount of what makes this training actually useful happens in that shared space, not in the content itself. Why this matters beyond just "a worse experience" This isn't only about which course is more enjoyable. It's about what kind of first aider comes out the other end. Someone trained without an instructor may finish the course, but they haven't had: The chance to build real confidence through practice The opportunity to check their understanding The chance to ask questions or relate concerns Guidance on setting their own boundaries Someone checking they know how to look after themselves once they start supporting others A first aider who doesn't know their own limits, or how to protect their own wellbeing while supporting someone else's, isn't fully equipped for the role, however good the written content was. The bottom line This isn't about promoting one provider over another. It doesn't need to be me delivering it. What matters is that there's a real instructor in the room, someone there to make sure everyone actually gets through the course having learned what they need, and comes out the other side as the right kind of first aider: capable, supported, and clear on their own boundaries.  That's not a nice extra. It's the part that makes the training actually work.

Nobody hands in their notice because of one bad Tuesday. It's usually months, sometimes years, of feeling unsupported, unseen, or like nobody would notice if they were struggling. And here's the bit that should make every business owner sit up: replacing someone properly costs a fortune. Recruitment fees, the productivity gap while the role sits empty, months of a new person finding their feet... it adds up fast, and most of it is entirely avoidable. What keeps good people isn't just decent pay or a nice office. It's psychological safety, that sense that if things get hard, there's somewhere to turn and someone who'll actually listen without judgement. Mental Health First Aid builds exactly that. When people know there are trained First Aiders around them, colleagues who can spot the signs early and point them towards proper support, something shifts in how safe the whole workplace feels. People stay in places where they feel human, not just productive. The organisations getting this right aren't doing anything flashy. They're just making sure support isn't a poster in the break room, it's real people with real training who know what to do when someone's struggling. That's the difference between a culture people tolerate and one they actually want to stay in. How awesome is it that something as practical as a two day course can genuinely change whether your best people stick around? I think about this every time someone tells me they are changing jobs again, it's rarely about the money. It's about whether they felt like they mattered where they were.

What does a First Aider actually do??? "What do I do after the course is over?" It's a fair question. I think it points at something a lot of organisations quietly worry about before they book any training at all: will anything actually change once everyone's back at their desks? So here's the honest answer. What a first aider is not given: A script to follow The job of diagnosing anything The job of fixing someone's problems If a course promises you that, treat it with some suspicion. What they are given instead: The confidence to notice when a colleague seems off The confidence to actually say something about it, rather than assuming it's not their place Most of us already notice when a colleague's gone quiet, or short-tempered, or started avoiding the kitchen at lunchtime. What we're not good at is knowing what to do next. That hesitation is where things tend to drift. What changes after the course The hesitation shortens. Someone notices, and instead of turning it over in their head for three days, they ask a simple, low pressure question: "You've seemed a bit different lately, how are you doing?" That's not a clinical intervention. It's a door left open. Most people will walk through a door that's already open far more readily than they'll knock on one that's closed. Why having a named first aider matters A trained first aider becomes a known point of contact. That matters more than it sounds like it should: People are far more likely to talk to a colleague they half know than an anonymous helpline number Knowing someone specific has had proper training lowers the barrier to asking for help It turns a well-being policy from words on a page into an actual person people can go to None of this replaces professional mental health support, and a good course is clear about where a first aider's role ends and signposting begins. What it does is close the gap between someone struggling and someone even noticing there's a problem. That gap is where most of the damage happens, quietly, long before any crisis moment. A personal note I've deliberately kept my own course numbers fairly small over the years. This training works best when it doesn't feel like a box ticked in a room of eighty people. It works because people leave with something they'll actually use on a Tuesday afternoon, when a colleague seems a bit quieter than usual. That's the whole point.

If you're reading this because things feel unbearable right now, please know you don't have to go through this alone. Help is available, right now, and reaching out is not a failure, it's one of the bravest things you can do. If you're in immediate danger, please call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. People you can talk to right now Samaritans – call 116 123, free, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You don't need to be suicidal to call, and you don't need to explain yourself. They're just there to listen. Shout – text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential support if talking on the phone feels like too much. NHS 111 – choose the mental health option for urgent support and to be connected with local crisis services. CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) – 0800 58 58 58, 5pm to midnight daily, with a webchat option too. Papyrus HOPELINE247 – for anyone under 35 experiencing suicidal thoughts, or anyone worried about a young person. Call 0800 068 4141 or text 07860 039967. Beyond the crisis line A crisis line can hold you in a difficult moment, but longer-term support matters too. Your GP is a good starting point and can refer you into local NHS mental health services, or your employer's EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) if you have access to one, offers confidential counseling at no cost to you. If cost or waiting lists feel like a barrier, charities like Mind and Rethink Mental Illness have information lines and can point you towards free or low-cost local support, and some areas run crisis cafes or safe havens where you can walk in without an appointment. rethink Making a plan for when things feel hardest Something I talk about often in my Mental Health First Aid training is the value of a safety plan, written down before you're in crisis, so it's there when your thinking feels foggiest. The Staying Safe website has templates and short videos that walk you through building one. It's a practical thing you can do on a calmer day that genuinely helps on a harder one. If you're worried about someone else You might be reading this because you're concerned about a friend, colleague or family member rather than yourself. Asking directly whether someone is thinking about suicide doesn't put the idea in their head, it opens the door for them to be honest with you. Samaritans has guidance on how to support someone you're worried about, and it's worth a read before that conversation. Contact me if you have any questions.

Every Saturday morning, whatever the weather, roughly a quarter of a million people across the UK turn up to a park, put on a barcode, and either run, walk or volunteer their way through 5 kilometres. How awesome is that?!! That's Parkrun, and it's become one of the most quietly effective mental health interventions in the country, without ever calling itself one. What the research actually found Sheffield Hallam University ran the biggest ever study of UK Parkrun participants, nearly 80,000 people, and released the results on Parkrun's 21st birthday. The numbers are fab news. Almost three-quarters of participants (74%) said their life satisfaction had improved through running or walking at Parkrun. A near-identical number, 73%, said the same about volunteering. Happiness, mental well being and a sense of personal achievement came out as the biggest drivers. The researchers even worked out the value. Each regular participant is worth an estimated £689 a year in benefits and NHS savings, and every £1 spent on Parkrun returns £16.70 in value. Free, effective, and apparently a genuinely good use of public money too. Why it works so well There's no entry fee, no pressure to be fast, and no minimum fitness level. You can run it, walk it, push a pram round it, or turn up with a hi-vis and a smile and marshal instead. The format does the work: same time, same place, every week, open to absolutely anyone. Isn't that brilliant? And every Sunday there's a shorter course for kids up to the age of 14 which makes for a great way of working off some energy before a roast. Definitely worth trying If you've got a local Parkrun and you've never been, then it might be time to check it out. Bring a friend, the kids, or enjoy going by yourself (with your barcode!) or offer to marshal. And, if you can have tea and cake afterwards it's well worth it! https://www.parkrun.org.uk/

Here's What the Evidence Says It's a fair question, and one worth answering honestly rather than with a big claim that doesn't hold up. The scale of the problem HSE's 2024/25 statistics found stress, depression and anxiety accounted for 62% of all working days lost to work-related ill health, 22.1 million days in total. Deloitte's most recent report puts the total annual cost of poor mental health to UK employers at £51 billion, with presenteeism (people at work but not really coping) the single largest cost at £24 billion. That last figure matters. Presenteeism costs more than absence itself. What the evidence actually supports Mental Health First Aid training doesn't cure stress or replace clinical support. What it does, reliably, is change how early a problem gets noticed and how quickly someone feels able to say something. That earlier conversation is the lever that matters. Long absences and severe presenteeism tend to follow periods where a struggling employee felt unable to raise it, or where nobody around them recognised what was happening until it became a crisis. Trained first aiders and confident managers shift that timeline. They can't promise a reduction in absence figures on their own, but they remove one of the biggest barriers to someone getting support before things escalate. The honest summary Mental Health First Aid isn't a fix for sickness absence by itself. It's one part of a wider approach, alongside clear policies, manager training and proper stress risk assessments. What it reliably delivers is earlier conversations and less isolation for people who are struggling. Given how much presenteeism alone is costing UK businesses, that's not a small thing.

A few consecutive days of sunshine and the whole country is out in shorts, squinting, declaring it "a proper summer." We both know it won't last. But while it does, there's something worth noticing. The unglamorous truth about loneliness Loneliness isn't rare or unusual. Research from the Centre for Social Justice found 58% of UK adults experience it at least some of the time, and this year marked ten years of Loneliness Awareness Week, with government and charities across the country renewing their focus on it. Most of us assume loneliness looks like isolation. Often it's quieter than that. It's the friend group that used to meet up regularly and now doesn't, or the colleague you like but never actually see outside a meeting room. Why the picnic blanket earns its place The Great Friendship Project, a London community group built entirely around informal, low-pressure gatherings, found that 73% of regular attendees felt less isolated, and 77% built real friendships, simply by turning up to picnics, park meet-ups and shared meals. No agenda. No icebreakers. Just showing up with a blanket and some crisps.  That's the bit worth taking seriously. Connection doesn't need a workshop or a structured programme to be protective for mental health. It needs regularity and low effort, the kind of thing a British summer practically hands you on a plate. A genuinely easy suggestion If you manage a team, skip the forced fun day. Suggest lunch outside instead, no agenda, no flipchart. If you're reading this as a person rather than an employer, ring someone you've been meaning to see and suggest the park. The weather won't hold. Get the blanket out while it does.

Most businesses would never skip a fire risk assessment. Yet mental health risk is still treated as optional in a lot of workplaces, even though UK law says otherwise. The legal bit, kept simple Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff. HSE has confirmed that "health" includes psychological health, not just physical. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 go further. They require a "suitable and sufficient" risk assessment of hazards, and psychological risk counts. So this isn't really a wellbeing extra. It's a legal duty, the same category as fire safety and manual handling. Why this matters right now HSE's 2024/25 figures show 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety, accounting for 52% of all work-related ill health. That's 22.1 million working days lost, a sharp rise on the year before. Stress is no longer a background issue. It's the single biggest driver of ill health at work in the UK. Where Mental Health First Aid fits MHFA training gives you: A practical, documented control measure you can point to if your approach to psychological risk is ever questioned Managers and colleagues who can spot the early signs and respond appropriately A working example of "suitable and sufficient" support, not just a policy sat in a drawer  None of this replaces a proper stress risk assessment. But it sits naturally alongside one, the same way a trained fire warden sits alongside a fire risk assessment.

A lot of hesitation about MHFA training comes down to a handful of assumptions. Here's what's actually true. Myth 1: "It's just common sense." Recognising distress and responding well is a skill, not an instinct. Most people freeze or say the wrong thing with good intentions, because nobody's ever shown them what actually helps. Myth 2: "It's too expensive." Poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion a year, according to Deloitte's most recent figures. Training a handful of first aiders costs a fraction of losing one employee to stress-related absence or resignation. Myth 3: "It makes people responsible for fixing mental illness." First aiders aren't therapists. Their job is to notice, listen, and point someone towards proper support, the same way a physical first aider stabilises and refers on. Myth 4: "We already have an Employee Assistance Programme." An EAP only helps if people use it. Many don't, often because nobody's had the conversation that gets them to pick up the phone. First aiders are often the reason someone finally reaches out. Myth 5: "It's only needed in high-risk industries." HSE's 2024/25 figures show stress, depression and anxiety affecting nearly a million workers across all sectors, with public administration, education and healthcare among the hardest hit, but no industry is exempt. Myth 6: "One session and the job's done." MHFA is a skill, not a certificate to file away. It needs refreshing and reinforcing, the same as any other safety-critical training.  Myth 7: "We've never had a problem, so we don't need it." Stigma means most organisations underestimate what's actually happening. The absence of reported problems is rarely the same as the absence of problems.