Supporting mental health as an employer

Mental Health at Work Commitment

The mental health of the emergency service workforce has never been more important. That’s why Mind and The Royal Foundation have teamed up with the Emergency Responders Senior Leaders Board. Together, we're helping to unite the emergency services community in supporting the mental health of the workforce.

A statement of intent

To deliver this ambition, senior leaders representing the national bodies across the UK emergency services have signed the Mental Health at Work Commitment. This is an unprecedented agreement, declaring that mental health is, and will remain, a strategic priority for all UK emergency services. This means that for the first time, a uniform set of standards for supporting the mental health of emergency responder staff will be adopted and integrated into workplaces.

Mind has developed three resources to help emergency services put the Commitment into action:

• A summary for senior leaders
• A guide for mental health, wellbeing, organisational development and culture leads
• A guide for mental health and wellbeing Champions

The guides, along with more information about this exciting new movement, can be found on the Blue Light Together website.

Access the guides

The Blue Light Programme Blueprint

Our expertise in delivering mental health support for emergency services has shaped the Blue Light Programme Blueprint Pack. This step-by-step guide has all the information employers need to set up and deliver mental health support in your service. Please note that the resources below are from our 2015 to 2019 programme, but you may still find them helpful.

• Read our introduction to the Blueprint to find out how to use the Blueprint guide.
• Read the case for support and find out why emergency services need to take care of their staff, and how they can do it.
• See the Blueprint, our visual step-by-step guide for delivering activities and setting up local networks.
• The Blueprint toolkit gives you practical steps you can take to embed support or set up local networks.
• From 2016–2017, the Blue Light Mental Health Networks were established – four pilot networks set up to facilitate local emergency services working together in improving staff and volunteers' mental wellbeing. These networks raised the profile of mental health significantly, and encouraged cross-service working. Read more in the Mental Health Networks evaluation report.

Time to Change pledge

The Time to Change Employer Pledge was a commitment to changing the way we all think and act about mental health in the workplace. The pledge was backed by an action plan, detailing the tangible activity to be delivered in pledged services.

During the Blue Light Programme, over 100 blue light services and associations signed or re-signed the pledge. Read about what other services have done to raise awareness.

The employer pledge was retired in June 2020 but its legacy continues through Time to Change information and resources, Time to Talk Day and the Mental Health at Work Commitment. Read more about the Commitment in the previous section.

Read more about the pledge

Workplace Wellbeing Index

Every employer depends on having healthy and productive employees. This is especially important in the emergency services, where workers frequently encounter traumatic situations.

Our Workplace Wellbeing Index is a benchmark of best policy and practice. It will help you find out where you are doing well and where you could improve your approach to mental health in the workplace.

Find out more about the Index

Training

Our training courses are developed to meet the specific needs of the emergency services workforce. They help you to manage your own and others' wellbeing at work, build resilience, and support colleagues after traumatic incidents.

Our existing courses are currently paused due to the pandemic. In response, we're currently developing new training. Find out more below.

Find out more about our workplace training

Webinars

Our webinars cover a wide range of topics.

• Mental health awareness
• Looking after your mental health (available for each emergency service)
• Managing mental health at work (available for each emergency service)

Watch the webinars

Case study - Kent Police

Kent Police were the first emergency service to sign the Time to Change pledge in 2012. Read about how they supported staff by establishing a network.

Read the case study