What's your number?

As you know, we are on a mission to provide top-level ongoing support to mental health first aiders around the world.

In my conversations with MDs and HR leaders, I often ask whether they have trained mental health first aiders in their organisations. Most of them proudly share that they do—and some even have specific targets in mind:

• “5% of our employees are mental health first aiders!”
• “We’ve reached 7%, but we want to get to 10%!”

On one hand, this is encouraging—it shows that leaders recognise the importance of mental health support. However, when I follow up with the question:

“Do you provide ongoing support to your mental health first aiders?”

The responses are far less encouraging. Most describe sporadic actions rather than a structured support system to ensure their mental health first aiders are effective. Even more concerning, many leaders don’t have measures in place to safeguard the wellbeing of the mental health first aiders themselves.

When I speak to mental health first aiders, I consistently hear the same struggles:

• “I want to help, but sometimes I feel like I’m not equipped to handle really complex situations.”
• “Some colleagues see me as ‘the mental health person’ and unload everything on me—it’s overwhelming at times.”
• “There’s a lack of ongoing training or resources to help me stay confident and prepared for tough situations.”

The message is clear: this is not just about quantity and bragging rights. While it’s great to hear leaders proudly share their ratios of mental health first aiders, those numbers mean little without proper ongoing support.

What I’d like to hear from leaders instead is this:

“6% of my workforce is certified as mental health first aiders, and we provide continuous support to help them be effective in their roles while safeguarding their wellbeing.”

If you want to take that first step towards providing meaningful, ongoing support, here’s a simple way to start: share this link with them. It’s the free section of the Dharma Academy, dedicated exclusively to equipping mental health first aiders with the support they need.

Yes, I said free ongoing support ??

Here is the link again: Free Ongoing Support for Mental Health First Aiders

Winter is coming—make sure your mental health first aiders are prepared.

Join our Workplace Wellbeing Academy for free

Explore how Dharma’s Workplace Wellbeing Academy can help your organisation meet its duty of care, protect employees’ mental health, and build a more resilient workforce.

? Join our FREE membership here: https://dharmawellbeing.com/academy/

Key features of the academy include:

• Hours of tutorials for self-paced learning
• A vast resource library with policy templates, workbooks, checklists, etc.
• 24/7 support from the Dharma Community
• Live monthly Q&As with experts
• Employee surveys and assessments