The value of eLearning for mental health awareness

The value of eLearning for mental health awareness

“Research suggests that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom.”

World Economic Forum

A changing landscape

The changing landscape of the working environment means that we are required to embrace more flexible ways of working and technological advancement.?Agile working and hot desking were already gaining traction even before the Covid pandemic promoted working from home as the new norm.?And, in case we thought this new way of working would be a blip once we’d learned to live with Covid, it appears to be here to stay as organisations realise the significant cost savings on areas such as travel, reduced commuting time leading to increased productivity, less need for physical offices, and not to forget saving the planet and the positive impact on the environment.?

These changes have brought many challenges for organisations considering how to continue with usual work practices such as recruiting, onboarding, communicating, learning and development and looking after health, safety and wellbeing.?The default of in person face to face processes were no longer an option so using Zoom and Teams became the new go to for keeping in touch and delivering important information.

Personally, I thought my ability to earn a living delivering face to face mental health and wellbeing training was completely over at the start of the pandemic until I also embraced the new ways of working and started delivering all my training online until restrictions were lifted.?I confess to having an initial concern that surely this way of working couldn’t possibly achieve the same engagement and results as in person training, but thankfully I was proven wrong.

The success of online delivery led my colleague and I to revisit the value of using eLearning to get key messages, information and awareness around mental health out to the masses.

The context of Mental Health

Let’s be honest, mental health can be a difficult subject for many people at the best of times. Knowing the difference between mental health, poor mental health and mental illness can be a challenge in itself and knowing how to have a conversation in the right way, at the right time with the right person can also be problematic.

Language is a difficult area to get your head around, knowing what to say or what not to say can be a minefield, especially as new words are being introduced into our vocabulary almost daily.

There are many misconceptions about mental health with little understanding of the journey from mental wellness to mental illness and back again.?The concept of recovery is also often misunderstood.

Organisations have long since recognised their Corporate Social Responsibility and legal requirements of focusing on employees’ health and safety although it’s only relatively recently that there has been a much greater understanding of the link between mental health, wellbeing, performance and delivery of workplace results.?We have a discerning workforce able to choose who they work for; companies needing to attract and retain valuable talent, managers and staff; and to become ‘Employers of Choice’ companies are putting much more energy and effort into wellbeing initiatives and mental health support.?

This raised the question of how it would be possible for us to support this trend and get accurate information, knowledge and awareness of mental health out to as wide an audience as possible, in a timely, engaging and practical manner. With some help from friends and colleagues willing to share their stories, our series of mental health awareness eLearning modules was born.

eLearning

Pre-recorded learning content to access digitally has been available for many years and proven to achieve the same if not better results compared to live delivery. ?Here are some of the reasons why eLearning is so effective…

·????????Accessible – there are no time and location constraints so individuals can learn at their own pace and convenience pretty much anywhere in the world, making eLearning suitable for local and global teams and available to a wide audience.

·????????Scalable – Materials can be accessed at the same time by people simultaneously, ensuring important and consistent messages can be received in a timely manner.

·????????Flexible & engaging – To address different learning styles and needs by including different medium such as visual, sound, music, narration, quizzes, polls, tests, animation, and people telling their stories.?Also, accommodating any diverse learner needs and any visual or auditory impairment.?This adaptive approach leads to a greater retention of content.

·????????Cost-effective – no need to pay trainers, hire venues or pay for travel expenses, such as accommodation. It also saves on travel time and the need for printed materials.

·????????Learner-centred – learners can focus on areas and revisit material that they find difficult or challenging leading to a more personalised learning experience.??For some people it also avoids any awkwardness or potential self-consciousness of being required to work in a classroom with others.

·????????Progressive – ability to introduce new material quickly and easily to reinforce or build on existing knowledge.

It is important to note that eLearning isn’t suitable for all subjects and skills where hands-on learning is required i.e learning to drive!

eLearning is only one part of the approach to supporting organisations with their focus on mental health and wellbeing, however as we’ve seen above, it can be an invaluable part of the equation.

Get in touch to find out how this eLearning can fit and compliment your organisations approach to this important topic.