Amey rolls out new mental wellbeing support

Infrastructure services provider Amey has teamed up with mental health charity Mates in Mind to help widen the conversation among staff about managing their mental wellbeing and resilience.

The partnership will see the organisation roll out the charity’s bespoke mental health and wellbeing programmes to staff, starting with online mental health awareness training and people manager training, so leaders can provide related guidance and assistance to their teams.

Emma Shakespeare, Amey’s group wellbeing manager, said: “The aim of this programme is to encourage a positive mental health culture that supports every employee’s mental wellbeing.”

The move bolsters the organisation’s already well-developed health agenda. At the start of this month (March), all permanent employees became eligible to access the Vitality GP app, enabling them to book up to four medical appointments per year.

The organisation also recently introduced ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’, giving staff an opportunity to focus on a different area of wellbeing each month and start new discussions on the topic.

All of Amey’s wellbeing initiatives are further supported by a large network of wellbeing ambassadors and mental health first aiders.

Shakespeare added: “We hope that everyone at Amey will feel supported in better managing their own wellbeing and that of others across the business.”

Commenting on the partnership, James Rudoni, managing director of Mates in Mind, said: “We are delighted to welcome Amey as the latest major employer to join Mates in Mind and create a mentally healthy workplace that will ensure vital advice, guidance and support is there to help individuals take control of their mental wellbeing.”

Earlier this month, the charity was awarded a £25,000 grant that will see it partner with the Institute for Employment Studies to research how mental health pressures impact the estimated one million ‘hard to reach’ people that either work for themselves or run small or micro businesses within the construction and manual trades sector.