St Helena Participates in UKOTA Mental Health Webinar
2 August 2022
The United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) Mental Health webinar was held on Monday, 18 July 2022. This was the third webinar organised by UKOTA and on Mental Health in the Workplace.
The webinar was facilitated by UKOTAs Health Improvement Lead, Ian Walker, from the UK Government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Portfolio Directors, Managers, TRiM Practitioners, Mental Health First Aiders and Human Resources staff within SHG joined the webinar virtually.
The webinar included an introduction from the Premier of the Turks & Caicos Islands and President of UKOTA, the Honourable Charles Washington Misick, and presentations from Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Counsellor, Tori Burgess, who spoke about Bermuda’s EAP; Clinical Psychologist from Montserrat’s Ministry of Health, Adegboyega Bamisile, who spoke about workplace mental health and their local experience in Montserrat; and Employment Relations Manager from the HR Department in British Virgin Islands and Noreen Callwood-Lewis, who gave an overview of EAP and Community Outreach.
St Helena’s Mental Health Team Lead & Community Psychiatric Nurse, Ian Rummary, also made a presentation and spoke about St Helena’s Trauma Risk Management Programme (TRiM).
Ian explained the purpose of TRiM (a trauma-focused peer support system designed to help people who have experienced a traumatic event). On St Helena eight SHG employees have underwent the TRiM practitioner training and four have gone on to be trained to become TRiM managers.
The UKOTA Mental Health webinar was also attended virtually by Chief Minister, Julie Thomas who spoke about the training undertaken in the St Helena Public Service which included;
Commissioning Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England to deliver awareness training to 75 senior managers in the Public Service in February 2021, which laid the groundwork by introducing the idea of talking about mental health.
Mental Health First Aider training was offered in May 2022 with an on-island MHFA Practitioner.
The continuous mental health training and mental health initiatives launched within the St Helena public service displays the commitment towards talking and focusing on mental health in the workplace.
#StHelena #UKOTA #Webinar #MentalHealth
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SHG
2 August 2022
