Staff wellbeing is paramount at HFL. We have a team of trained mental health first aiders to help support staff members and come up with wellbeing initiatives.

Stacey Le Page, Abbie Hewlett, Joe Le Roux, Adelaide Allen, and Alex Setters are now trained in spotting the signs of stress or anxiety, as well as helping to come up with ideas to make work life more comfortable.

‘Our mental health first aiders are there to support and generate wellbeing ideas and break down the stigma. We live busy lives and you’re trying to keep all the plates spinning sometimes and it’s just recognising that you can’t do that all the time. There’s going to be points where you’re going to feel the effects of that,’ said Stacey, HFL’s People & Culture Manager.

‘It’s important that we have confidence to talk openly about our feelings; the course really brought out how widely it can affect us all and I now feel more confident to ask people how they are feeling and really listen to their experiences.’

Abbie is a director at HFL. She said that the course opened her eyes to the nuances of stress, and how people deal with their emotions differently.

‘One thing I got out of it was the importance of considering that everyone has a different ‘sized’ stress bucket, and just because some individuals can ‘cope’ with a large amount of considered stresses, others wouldn’t be able to.

‘This is reflective on so many factors including their individual ‘window of the world’ i.e., what makes them, them.’

Joe is a keen rugby player. He said he would be using the skills he learnt on the course outside of work too.

‘I am often involved with groups of males varying in age, and this course has given me the skills and confidence to be able to assist with any mental health struggles should this be needed within the office and outside hobbies,’ he said.

Alex and Adelaide both gained confidence from the course, which provides the skills required to spot signs of people experiencing poor mental health, be confident to start a conversation, and signpost a person to appropriate support.

‘One thing I got out of the training is the knowledge to enable approaching people with confidence,’ said Alex.

Adelaide added: ‘I learnt how to recognise that someone may be struggling, and how to best approach and support someone. This course was very beneficial in developing my confidence to be able to support staff and provide further support externally.’