Mental Health Story - second version

By Yixiang Zeng

A Harrow charity has been organising a training project to get mentally ill people into work and help raise mental health awarenesses within the borough.

The project TrainAware, part of Mind in Harrow's Head for Work, has been recruiting people who suffer from mental illness to become trainers as well as helping locals understand how mental health problems can affect their work and daily life.

Training coordinator Chrystelle Heldire told The HA1 after the World Mental Health Day celebration: “Since September 2008, we were able to start paying our trainers on an hour rate and employ them on a bank basis.”

She explained that trainers' payment is generated partly from the companies who send their employees to the training sessions, and partly from the charity's reserves.

These trainers were educated through a series of methods and were accredited by Middlesex University, who are then able to give training sessions to local employees and help raise their mental health awarenesses.

Chrystelle said: “These methods include brainstorming, how to work with groups and give constructive feedback, how to share plans and goals, presentation and facilitation skills.”

According to her, so far the trainers have already delivered approximately 45 training sessions to a number of local companies and organisations, such as Jobcentre Plus and Aspire, a charity that offers support to an individual who suffers from spinal injuries.

Mark Gillham, Chief executive of Mind in Harrow, said it is important for the companies and trainers to work together, he said: “From the company side, the manager will have better understanding of employees' mental health issues, such as life stress and depression, or not be able to work to their best capacity. So it helps their businesses.

“Trainers will have real work experience, and be able to use their own experience of mental health problem to explain directly what they have been through.”

Another local charity Capable Communities, which co-ordinated this year's World Mental Health Day, also said they want to work closely with companies to get people with mental problems into work.

The president of Harrow in Business Allen Pluck said his organisation has a tradition of helping marginalised individuals.

However, he has his own concerns: “at the moment, the whole of the business support infrastructure is in complete turmoil. And we are struggling to obtain funding to support the survival of any local business or individuals wishing to become self employed.”