Hi,

A few months back I read that a new bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 23 March 21 by Dean Russell MP, who wants a new law to ensure that every workplace has a Mental Health First Aider.

Did this ever materialise, and has a specific time frame been set, we are currently in the process of sending multiple managers for mental health training and would like to select the most appropriate training.

Thanks.

1) The recipient needs to acknowledge their issue

2) The recipient needs to reach out to the provison

3) The recipient needs to trust the provision

4) The recipient needs to believe they are gettting the assistance they need

A legally mandated provision fails to pass the test at 1) and would probably fail at 3) especially if the designated aider is the recipients perceived problem aka manager/supervisor

Originally Posted by: Roundtuit

A legally mandated provision fails to pass the test at 1) and would probably fail at 3) especially if the designated aider is the recipients perceived problem aka manager/supervisor

Sorry Roundtuit, your response makes no sense at all to me.

How would a legally mandated requirement to have a mental health first aider in every workplace fail any of those requirements?

You may as well argue that there's no point having a requirement to have a source of drinking water, becasue 1: the recipient needs to acknowledge they are thirsty, 2: the recipient needs to try to access the provision, 3: the recipient needs to trust that it's drinking water, 4: the recipient needs to actually drink the water.

A legally mandated requirement to have mhfa AVAILABLE for the cases where someone DOES want to talk to one in no way 'fails' on the days that no-one wants to talk to them.  I don't consider the provision of physical first aiders in my office has failed because they didn't do any CPR or stop any haemorrhages yesterday.

It was a ten minute rule motion that the government should introduce a bill "to make mental health first-aid part of first-aid training requirements" : commons order paper and hansard report.  No-one opposed it, as far as I can see. However, it was only a proposal that someone should come up with a proposal some time.

Having said which, this bunch aren't going to introduce the requirement, imo

There has to be a specific  legal requirement to do something; you don’t need to do it just because people think it may be a good thing. That’s how the law works and for example why in the UK there is no general duty to help if someone is injured for example. As said the First Aid at Work regulations place a duty on employers to provide first aiders for employees who might be ” injured or become ill at work”. Nothing about mental health there. In 2021 an MP proposed a 10 minute bill which is just  a suggestion to test people’s appetite for actual legislation. The HSE response to this which appeared not long afterwards can be found here. In a nutshell the HSE concluded that “There is no evidence that the introduction of MHFA training in workplaces has resulted in sustained actions in those trained, or that it has improved the wider management of mental ill-health.” ; which has probably killed any chance of there being any legislation on this in the foreseeable future.

My clumsy attempt at the English language!

Often people on the forum say you must do this or that but, in many cases, it turns out that there is no legal  requirement to do it ie no NEED. It’s might still be a good thing ( fresh fruit always a good idea)  but just because someone (who might be selling you something) says you SHOULD something does not mean you must do it.

Hopefully I am making myself clear  and I am not advocating minimalist approach to H&S but just suggesting that people don’t just rush onto the nearest bandwagon because everyone else is doing it and it is assumed to be a legal requirement.