Mental Health Training for Managers - Your Guide to Getting Started

If you're tasked with arranging mental health training for managers within your organisation but unsure about where to start or what to include in that mental health training, then this guide has been designed for you!

We have trained hundreds of managers all across the globe in how to manage mental health within their teams and share these insights to give you clarity and the key components to consider when designing your mental health training for managers programme.

Why Do Managers Need Mental Health Training?

Put simply, mental health training for managers is about giving your managers a greater understanding of the human psyche. It's about helping them understand cause and effect. Learning what takes a team member from being okay to not being okay, and how they recognise the signs someone is struggling with their mental health.

Helping managers understand the difference between one of their team having a not-so-good day (because we all have those!) and something that is classed as a mental health condition.

The Human Experience and Mental Health

People go through life events—what I refer to as human experiences. These can be anything from a bereavement, a health condition, or personal issues involving children or relationships, like going through a divorce. These life events have the potential to impact us, affecting how we show up mentally, physically, and emotionally. So, it's important managers know the difference between people going through life events versus something considered a mental health condition.

The Mental Health Spectrum

The mental health spectrum is vast. On one end, we have stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. On the other end, we have more complex conditions such as schizophrenia, psychosis, and multiple personality disorder. If you’re organising mental health training for your managers and are unsure how much of the mental health spectrum to cover, here’s some advice: depending on the kind of organisation you work in and the cases your managers have dealt with, don't attempt to cover the whole spectrum.

Managers don’t need an in-depth understanding of all these different mental health conditions. If you try to cover everything, you risk overwhelming your managers. Mental health training for managers is not about turning them into mental health experts; it’s about giving them a basic understanding of mental ill health and how it can impact their team members. More importantly, it’s about how best a manager can support an individual in the event that they are struggling.

Recognising and Supporting Mental Health Issues

Each mental health condition has its spectrum. For instance, anxiety isn’t just anxiety. People who struggle with anxiety have days when it’s easier to manage and days when it’s really difficult. With mental health training for managers, our goal is to help managers look beyond the labels. They shouldn’t see just the label of anxiety, stress, or depression and think it's a one-size-fits-all approach.

Think about a scale of 0 to 10 for stress. Not everyone is at a 10 all the time. Depending on their mindset and how they’ve been taking care of themselves holistically, they might find some days easier to cope with than others. So, while it’s helpful to give managers more insight into these conditions, it isn’t about giving them a PhD in mental health.

Tailoring the Training to Your Needs

If you’re wondering how much of the spectrum to cover within your training, focus on the more common mental health conditions your managers are likely to deal with. Stress and burnout should definitely be covered, including the neuroscience of stress, because it will help them support their teams and themselves. Many managers who go through our training realise they are in a stress response without even knowing it.

Cover anxiety, but understand that there are different types of anxiety—trauma, OCD, social anxiety, fears, and phobias. You don’t need to go into all of these in detail. Just understanding what anxiety is, its cause and effect, and the most helpful ways to support those people is sufficient.

Depression and bipolar disorder can also be covered depending on your organisation. If your data shows a high number of cases, then it makes sense to include these in your training. Similarly, if you have employees dealing with addiction, that should be included too. The key is not to make your management mental health training a one-size-fits-all approach.

Considering Suicide Training

A question that often comes up is whether to cover suicide in mental health training. Tragically, many organisations have dealt with suicide cases. My advice is not to cover suicide within general mental health training for managers. Suicide training is a specific area in itself and can be overwhelming. Start with the basics and build from there. Once managers understand mental ill health, you can offer suicide training as a separate module later.

Structuring the Mental Health Training

How long should the training be? Time is a valuable resource. It depends on your organisation’s needs, how much time managers can dedicate, and your budget. You might have a thousand managers to train, making it impractical to take everyone out for a day. Consider pre-recording some training sessions as a valuable resource. Managers aren’t always dealing with mental health issues, so having a resource to refer back to can be incredibly helpful.

Focus on practical skills like listening, navigating conversations, and asking the right questions. Help managers create connections and psychologically safe environments for their team members. Mental health training isn’t set in stone; it’s about what’s valuable for your organisation. If you’ve already done training on listening or coaching skills, you can focus more on mental health aspects.

Employment Law Considerations

Depending on your location, it might also be beneficial to include elements of employment law in your training. For example, in the US, there’s the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in the UK, there’s the Equality Act 2010. Managers should be aware of these laws and their responsibilities, like making reasonable adjustments for employees struggling with mental health.

This guide has provided an overview of the key aspects of mental health training for managers. By addressing these points, your organisation can be well-prepared to support the mental well-being of your employees, leading to a healthier, more productive workplace.