Tools and Resources for Supporting Mental Health in VCSE Organisations
Most of us are quite good at recognising when we are physically unwell and may share how we feel with family, friends and colleagues. We may also seek help from the GP.
Too many of us however do not recognise how our emotions and mental health are affecting us and even if we do, we are not as good at sharing and talking about it. We struggle on until we can't any longer.
Culturally and historically talking about mental health has not been encouraged and has been viewed in a negative light.
Times have changed!! The past few years have highlighted that any one of us can be effected by any number of factors and situations, and how we react is not always predictable or how we expected to respond. During Covid and lockdown some people experienced levels of stress they had not known before. Anxiety is the natural response to stress or perceived threat. Nowadays we have information about the many different forms of anxiety and causes.
More importantly we have ways of recognising the signs before it becomes too serious and resources for dealing, coping and reducing it.
Just as staying physically healthy is important, staying mentally well is equally important. Prevention and minimising the risk, not just for ourselves but for our staff and volunteers and whole organisation, helps our communities.
For this reason, the VCSA has compiled a list of some helpful resources available to you and your organisation to tap into for working on the mental health of your staff and volunteers.
Please note that this is list is not exhaustive, and is meant for signposting purposes only, and is not an endorsement of any of these tools and services by the VCSA.
National organisations with resources for VCSE groups:
Local organisations that can offer support for VCSE groups:
Shropshire Mental Health Support
Free resource libraries and tools:
Shropshire Council has registered our area for Togetherall, you can sign up free just using your post code
NHS Mental Health audio guides
Daily Calm 10-minute meditation sessions on YouTube
Mental Health First Aid England Mental Health at Work toolkits:
UK Trauma Council has resources for those working with children and young people who have experienced trauma
Beacon House has free resources for working with those who have experienced trauma of various kinds
Resources to support staff mental health from Mind:
Side by Side is an online mental health peer support community operated by Mind
The Mental Health Foundation has a great article on prevention and mental health
Do you work with young volunteers? SYA offers Time2Talk Sessions that are excellent for this demographic.
Developing workplace wellbeing policies, strategies and action plans:
Free Guide from AltruistUK to creating a workplace wellbeing strategy
Free Guide from St John Ambulance for creating workplace wellbeing policy:
Mind has wellbeing action plans
Training and courses:
Free online mental health courses supported by the government:
Mental Health First Aid England
If you would like to see other resources added to this list, please email vcsassembly@shropshire.gov.uk