MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS COURSE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2015 :: RMTnews 28 In the first course since the pilot, 12 RMT members attended the mental health awareness course, held at the national education centre in Doncaster. This was a five day course and on the first day the fifth day seemed quite far off. Whatever reason people signed up for the course, you can guarantee that each person had experienced some sort of involvement with someone who has suffered with mental health issues and it’s not a secret that one in 4 people suffer from some sort of Mental ill health throughout their lives. For those who have not had or dealt with mental ill health, then this course is perfect for you in order to understand how to best help our members. Like most of us on the course, we live our lives day to day with people who have mental health issues. I’m not afraid to admit that I have suffered with depression (those people who wondered where I had gone for those couple of years). I was seeking help and now my life has never been better. Interestingly, if you mention ‘mental health’ in the workplace mess room, you would almost certainly be met with a “nope, I’m fine! I’m not a nutter! Just got to man up!” When in reality, if you sat down with the person in private and had the conversation, they would probably open up more. Out of the course, we decided that we would go back to our workplaces and show our presentations to our members – I dedicated a noticeboard to the issue with help from the Charity – Mind. This gives people the option to just have a cup of tea and talk or a quick text message. I also use the opportunity to highlight that stress is the biggest killer in the workplace and ways to alleviate it. This course isn’t about helping you with your own mental health issues. The course is about the different types of mental ill-health and giving you an awareness of it. It makes you think of situations that you could be faced with and also gives you the tools you need as an activist and a representative to effectively fight against managers that don’t understand mental health. I would encourage every rep to attend this course if you can. It really is eye opening and I think you’ll find it inspires you to want to do more, to campaign and help your members get through their own battle of mental ill-health. Using education to improve equality in the workplace is a key objective of the Scottish government’s Development Fund. Working in the traditionally male-dominated maritime sector, RMT Learning Project Worker Dan Henderson identified a need to help female employees at Caledonian MacBrayne Ferries take up opportunities to progress their careers and improve the gender balance at management level in the company. Working with CalMac, Dan applied for support from the Highlands and Islands Learning Fund for a ‘Women into Leadership and Management’ course for women from across the CalMac network including Arran, Mallaig and Oban. The course, which took place in Oban, was delivered by learning provider, Social Enterprise Academy. Issues covered in the course included improving confidence to apply for management positions, benefits to employers of having women in management, potential barriers for women and how to overcome them, and understanding the factors that may be holding women back as individuals. Dan said: "Working with CalMac through our Learning Steering Group, we analysed the figures for women in management roles both ashore and onboard the ships, and looked for ways to increase the numbers of women coming forward. “We felt that women would benefit from an introductory course and that this would give those workers a better understanding of management roles and how and where they could progress to take up the opportunities that are available within the organisation. “The feedback from the course has been very positive and we would hope that the learners will now go on and take up other leadership and management courses through union learning in the Highlands and Islands, that will support them in their career aspirations and also improve the range of management talent available within CalMac,” he said. MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS COURSE Adrian Rowe reports from the second RMT course dedicated to mental health awareness RMT Learning Project seeks to help female employees at Caledonian MacBrayne Ferries WOMEN IN OBAN