The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has today announced that it will be offering free mental health training to all MPs.
What new training is being offered to MPs?
Making Every Contact Count (MECC) for Mental Health training is being offered to all MPS. The approach trains people to sensitively bring up mental health during everyday conversations at work with the aim of supporting staff or signposting to appropraite services.
Positive change through simple conversations
The MECC approach involves a range of professionals being trained to have short, informal, focused conversations about health behaviour topics.
MECC for Mental Health is highly effective in introducing health behaviour change conversations into a variety of settings, and has been proven to improve workplace mental health outcomes in the NHS and the private sector. We know that there are many benefits to MECC in promoting behaviour change and dealing with issues like the stigmatisation of certain conditions.
Earlier this year we published a report, ‘What are you talking about?’, which called for the widespread roll out of the MECC approach across workplaces and other settings.
The report found that a majority of the public (64%) would want their employers or manager to be trained to have conversations about mental and physical health.
Why is mental health training being offered to MPs?
There are many health issues reported among staff in Parliament.
Mental ill-health among MPs staff
Recently published research has shown high levels of mental ill-health among MP’s staff, with half of them reporting similar levels of distress to emergency service workers.
There is no mandatory training for MPs
RSPH is offering mental health training to MPs because they act as independent employers, meaning that there is no mandatory level of training in Parliament. This means that the level of support staff receive varies by MPs. Issues such as staff burnout and isolation are often reported as commonplace.
All employees should have a minimum level of workplace health support
The offer of the training is part of a our push for more workplace health support to be offered across the UK workforce.
10 million people in the UK work in a business which doesn't provide basic health protection interventions such as health checks or vaccinations, according to our research. We're calling for all UK employees to have a minimum level of support through the introduction of a national Health and Work Standard.
Commenting on the offer of training, William Roberts, Chief Executive, Royal Society for Public Health, said:
“We want every UK employee to have the right to a healthy workplace and the staff working in Parliament should be no exception.
"We hope MPs of all political stripes take us up on this offer of MECC for Mental Health training, so that they can see firsthand the positive impact it has on staff wellbeing.
"All MPs want to build a healthier and more productive future for our nation. However, to achieve that we need a sea change in how we approach workplace health.
"As it stands, millions of people don’t have access to workplace health support. This is having huge costs to both our economy and the growing number of people leaving our workforce due to ill health."
Beccy Cooper, Labour MP and Chair of the APPG on Healthy Places, said:
“Workplace mental health is a universal problem, but Parliament should be leading the way when it comes to building a healthy workplace which is fit for the 21st century. Too often, our procedures have not kept up with the demands that we are putting on both MPs and their staff, and I’m delighted to see the RSPH stepping up to help make Parliament a great place to work.
“MPs want to do the right thing by their staff, constituents, and local volunteers, and I would urge them to take up this offer to ensure that we are all playing a role in making Parliament one of the most mentally healthy workplaces in the country.”
