World Mental Health Day – Q&A with EMA’s Mental Health First Aider Julie O’Callaghan

JessicaTracey — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 14:43:01 +0000

What is World Mental Health Day?

The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year.

The theme of 2022’s World Mental Health Day, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, is ‘Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’.

For this year’s World Mental Health Day, we spoke with EMA’s Mental Health First Aider Julie O’Callaghan. Julie shares her own struggles with mental health and how she copes when she feels she is falling into a dark place.

‍What are your personal experiences with mental health?

I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)about 3 years ago having struggled for many years with anxiety that increased with the loss of a close friend.

What do you do to improve your mental health?

I now recognise when I’m falling towards that dark place of self-destruction and coping with anxiety daily by self-care through various types of exercise which includes yoga (I’m a qualified yoga teacher), open water swimming, Parkrun and more recently cycling. All these activities support mental, emotional and physical well-being, which at times is challenging but very self-satisfying.

I have recently completed a charity challenge with a community called Her Spirit doing a mixture of exercises to personally achieve100k and raised £300 for Breast Cancer Research. Ill mental health can have an impact on all aspects of life and be the root ca

use of many physical illnesses so my advice is to first take care of yourself in whatever way that means to you and everything else will all into place.

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How do you support others?

I qualified as a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) about a year ago and the aim of EMA Training Ltd was to provide support to our apprentices and staff. I follow the support process of ALGEE:

A- Approach the person, assess and assist with any crisis
L- Listen and communicate non-judgementally
G- Give support and information
E- Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help
E- Encourage other supports

‍As a person with lived experiences of mental health struggles, I found becoming an MHFA (Mental Health First Aider) helps firstly myself with more of an understanding of mental health and secondary enhances the support offered to ALL our apprentices and staff when life becomes challenging there is a need for strategies to cope with everyday life when living with a long-term mental health condition such as General Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Need support this World Mental Health Day?

If you are concerned that you are developing a mental health problem, you should seek the advice and support of your GP as a matter of priority. If you are in distress and need immediate help and are unable to see a GP, you should visit your local A&E.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/get-help?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin

For any additional information on this, please contact safeguarding@ematraining.co.uk

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Mental health in the workplace

FlorenceComasky — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:55:46 +0000

What do EMA do to promote positive mental health in the workplace?

As an Apprenticeship Training Provider, young people are at the heart of our organisation. With mental health issues being so prevalent in young people, particularly over the past 12 months, supporting our apprentices with their mental well-being has been just as important as their technical education.

One of the concerns that we identified as an organisation, is how apprentices can experience high levels of stress and anxiety prior to sitting their exams, and EMA’s Accountancy Mentor and Safeguarding Officer, Julie O’Callaghan, came up with an innovative method to address the issue.

Fun fact about Julie; she is also training to become a qualified yoga instructor! Julie offers learners time before their exams to completely de-stress through deep-breathing techniques and yoga! Whilst yoga isn’t for everyone, Julie has really helped many of our learners and the feedback has been excellent! One of our accountancy apprentices commented:

“The deep relaxation techniques worked really well for me, and I think it will improve the more I do it… Thank you for all your support!”

EMA’s Accountancy Mentor and Mental Health First Aider, Julie

But it is not just apprentices who experience mental ill-health. Common issues such as stress, anxiety and phobias are present in almost every team, and there is often a spectrum from mild to severe. In February 2021, the entire EMA team enrolled onto a Level 2 Mental Health Awareness programme to increase our knowledge and awareness of mental health. We are four sessions in, and it has already started to provoke more conversations around mental health in the workplace. Our Chief Operating Officer, James, shared some of his own experiences with mental health:

“Throughout my professional career I have experienced a range of emotions relating to mental health in the workplace from mild stress to quite severe anxiety. The key for me is to understand the triggers that cause me to feel this way, remove or reduce them and adopt a strategy to help me best cope. An example of this is the anxiety I experience when public speaking or delivering an important presentation. I will always get anxiety –it is in my genetics, but there are things I do to help me manage it effectively. For example, positive thinking, learning, and understanding my subject material thoroughly and focussing on how I will feel once I have completed the presentation. There are other, simple steps that I take, which includes exercising regularly (releasing endorphins), getting plenty of sleep, drinking lots of water and eating healthily.”

Over the past 12 months, working from home has become the norm for so many people across the world and whilst some may argue that this new way of working has had a positive impact on things such as work-life balance, reducing pollution and cutting costs associated with commuting to the office, research suggests that for many, mental health has been negatively impacted. In order to address this, the Leadership Team at EMA have kept employees connected through weekly team calls, water-cooler catch-ups and the previously mentioned, mental health courses. Our Digital Marketing Apprentice, Jess, gave her thoughts on the weekly calls:

“I find the weekly team calls really beneficial; it helps me feel connected to the team even though I haven’t seen them in person for months!”

It is important to check on the people around you and make sure they aren’t struggling alone.

EMA Training take mental health very seriously and never want anyone; apprentice, or staff to suffer in silence! We are making moves daily, working to continuously provide effective support for anyone struggling.