Finders International has bolstered its commitment to staff wellbeing by having all its line managers undergo mental health training courses, qualifying them as mental health first aiders (MHFAider®).

Undertaken with MHFA England (www.mhfaengland.org), the course teaches knowledge and skills for providing first aid to support people who may be experiencing poor mental health.

At Finders, we believe in zero stigma around mental health. We want mental health to be openly discussed and supported and we have a number of programmes and policies in place to support this.

Employee Assistance Programme

Our Employee Assistance Programme is for staff members who require assistance or support from a confidential third party, while our wellbeing leave is where we will be providing all our staff with an extra day’s leave in addition to their annual entitlement in 2023 and beyond. The day can be used however anyone wishes – from catching up with a hobby to simply resting and recharging – and it can be taken at any point during the year.

In addition, we have appointed three Mental Health Champions. A Mental Health Champion raises awareness of the importance of mental health support and provides additional support to all staff should they prefer to speak to them rather than their line manager. The Mental Health Champions are also responsible for updating our wellbeing section on Finders International’s intranet.

Our Champions are:

Elaine Ridley, who works as a public sector development manager with NHS trusts, coroners, police services and hospices. Suicide prevention and mental health awareness and support have been of huge importance to her for many years and she has been a member of several multi-agency working groups in both Northern Ireland and England, and is a current member of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance.

As well as MHFA training, she has also completed: the ASIST Training Programme; Psychological First Aid Training; Covid-19: Psychological Impact, Wellbeing and Mental Health; as well as a number of other mental health illness and awareness courses. She has extensive experience of providing compassionate support to people in crisis, those who need to talk, and those who may benefit from signposting to a suitable professional service.
Richard Eglen, who works at the DS Researchers office near Hull. Thanks to his background in the police, he received regular mental health awareness training and was also a Police Federation rep and equality lead.

He is keen to learn more about mental health issues and help promote good mental health in the workplace.

Amy Cox is a senior case manager in the public sector team at the Vestry Street office in London and celebrated her ten-year anniversary with Finders International in 2022. As well as completing the MHFA training, she has also undertaken mental health training with the charity Mind and the Cruse Loss and Bereavement Awareness Training Workshop. She feels passionately about addressing the stigma surrounding these conversations in the work place.