Stoke firm offers free mental health training to help businesses support staff

A Stoke-on-Trent training provider is offering free mental health awareness courses to help businesses support their staff through the coronavirus pandemic.

Acacia Training, which specialises in courses for the health and social care sector, is now offering free training to businesses of all types to enable them to quickly understand the issues and put an action plan in place to support employees through the crisis.

Clare Hancock, Partnership Manager at Acacia Training, says awareness of mental health issues amongst employers has been growing but the current crisis has brought that into sharp focus. “Many staff are working under greater pressure than ever at present,” she says.

“Where businesses have remained open, employees are in the frontline, while in other cases they are operating in isolation at home. Many people will also be concerned about their own health or that of others and in some cases, dealing with the loss of loved ones. It is critical that managers are able to identify mental health issues and know how best to support staff through this period. Our webinars offer a rapid way to bring them up to speed and enable them to put the right measures in place.”

Acacia Training is also offering free courses on infection control – another key issue that businesses need to address, particularly as shops and offices reopen after the lockdown, but one that will be new to many outside the healthcare sector.

Both topics are delivered in small groups via two-hour webinars which free of charge and open to all businesses. Webinars will be run twice weekly for the next three months.

Acacia Training is part of MBH Corporation plc, which brings together small, established businesses in key sectors such as health, education, engineering and construction.