Specsavers is making a major investment in mental health awareness training for colleagues throughout the UK and Ireland.
A series of half-day workshops on managing mental health problems has been set up, with one free place offered to each Specsavers optical, audiology or domiciliary business, and additional places available.
“One in four people in the UK and Ireland experience mental health problems: that’s potentially 25 per cent of our workforce,” said Dawn McIntyre, Specsavers’ UK HR director. “That is why we’re providing training workshops for our Specsavers teams to equip them with the knowledge and practical skills required to confidently manage mental ill health in the workplace.”
More than 50 workshops for around 800 people will be held over the next three months in locations including Chester, Dublin, Cork, Athlone, Bristol, Birmingham, Wakefield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Nottingham, Gravesend and London.
Delivered by Specsavers’ training partner, ACAS, they will cover:
Specsavers’ employee assistance programme providers, Canada Life, will supplement the workshops with a suite of online training materials for colleagues who wish to go on to train their own teams or cannot attend the workshops. This is in addition to the employee assistance helpline they already run for all Specsavers colleagues and their families.