We’re leading a new group dedicated to championing mental health in the workplace.

It will be a working group of the Council for Work and Health, a membership organisation of more than 40 bodies which represent more than a million people working in the fields of employment and health.

And as many of the member organisations work in the area of physical health, this group will provide an opportunity to encourage them to think about the importance of mental health at work, counselling and the benefits of employing counsellors.

Give counselling a strong voice

Our workforce lead Kris Ambler said: "We’ve talked about achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health for some time, this group is a significant step towards that. It will also present a fantastic opportunity to give counselling a stronger voice.

“It means that we’ll be able to take a more prominent place in the mental health at work agenda, while promoting the value of workplace counselling.

Championing our members' expertise

“Through our work with this group, we’ll be championing all our members’ expertise and knowledge and demonstrating to these other organisations to show how our members can make a difference to employees’ lives.”

Members of the Council include organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, Health and Safety Executive, Macmillan Cancer Support and the TUC.

Nicola Neath, a former chair of BACP Workplace Division and a staff counsellor at the University of Leeds, will chair the working group.

She said she was delighted to represent workplace counsellors.

Increasing understanding and visibility

“I hope this opportunity will build upon the efforts of the Workplace Division and increase understanding and visibility of workplace counsellors and psychotherapists across the UK," she added.

"I am keen to bring our expertise to partner organisations in the Council to help organisations understand both the business and moral case for professional mental health interventions for employees.

"This exciting opportunity will enable us to contribute our views nationally to projects concerning the mental health of staff."

 

Nicola Neath

Nicola Neath

The group will meet every three months and the first meeting takes place Thursday 13th February.

The group comes on the back of our work with the Council to explore models of clinical supervision for Mental Health First Aiders.

This project is working to create supervision roles – that would be for qualified counsellors - of mental health first aiders, so they are clear about the boundaries of their work, the importance of signposting and that their own wellbeing is looked after too.

For more information about this work contact Kris Ambler at Kris.ambler@bacp.co.uk.

To find a counsellor or psychotherapist who can help you visit our Therapist directory.