Centrica : Meet our Mental Health First Aiders

At the beginning of this year, we worked with AXA Healthcare to train a team of over 60 employees as Mental Health First Aiders.

Many of those applying brought their own personal experiences of managing mental health issues, and welcomed the opportunity to build new skills to help support their colleagues.

In the two months since launching, the team has already hosted a number of drop-in sessions to help colleagues across the business find out more about the support available.

Alongside this face-to-face support, the campaign has also encouraged over 2,000 employees to complete online modules around wellbeing at work.

We spoke to a few members of the newly-qualified team, to ask what it means for them to be involved.

Jenny Pattinson, Cyber Security Engineer
'All of us go through difficult times and there are occasions when we need additional support. I hope to encourage people not to feel afraid to confide in somebody.'

Georgia Scantlebury, L&D Specialist
'My mum is a psychiatric nurse and mental health has always been an open conversation in our family. As I've got older, I've realised that this isn't the case for everyone and for some it's an area they're not comfortable talking about. I hope to challenge some of the stigma around Mental Health, and encourage people to open up and seek the support they need.'

Zowie Kaye, Counter Fraud Analyst
'The training's been great, I have learnt more in depth about mental health and now feel much more equipped to be able to support and guide those in need towards the correct resources.'