mental health guru delivers online training for all employees. It provides information about depression and anxiety – encouraging early help-seeking, reducing stigma and highlighting responsibilities in the workplace.
mental health guru can help your organisation to appropriately manage mental health issues and reduce associated productivity losses
How is mental health guru structured?
mental health guru delivers brief online training for workplaces, in two modules which are completed in order. These include information, interactive exercises, videos and quizzes with personalised feedback.
Module 1: Depression
- Understanding depression, its impact and how it is diagnosed.
- Treatment options, risk factors and how to get help.
- Myth-busting and stigma.
- Depression in the workplace.
Module 2: Anxiety
- Understanding anxiety, worry and different types of disorders.
- Treatment options, risk factors and how to get help.
- Common misconceptions and stigma.
- Anxiety in the workplace.
Mental health in the workplace
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Approximately 1 in 5 people in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia will experience a mental health problem every year.
Office for National Statistics, 2015
Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013.
Mental Health America, 2014.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007.
Mental illness creates high costs for employers due to absenteeism, presenteeism, compensation claims and turnover.
The estimated cost:
UK: £35 billion a year (Centre for Mental Health, 2017).
Canada: $6 billion a year ( Smetanin. et. al., 2011).
USA: $44 billion a year, 200 million days of lost work (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2015).
Australia: $11 billion a year (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014)
Employers have legal obligations in relation to the management of mental illness in the workplace.
UK: Equality Act 2010, Employment Rights Act 1996.
Canada: Canadian Human Rights Act, Employment Equity Act.
USA: Americans with Disability Act (ADA), OSHA, Family Medical Leave Act.
Australia: Disability Discrimination Act 1992, WH&S, Privacy Act 1998.
How can mental health guru help?
mental health guru will help your organisation to address these issues through:
- Decreasing stigma
- Increasing knowledge
- Improving help-seeking
- Improving management of mental health problems within the workplace.
Program elements
QUIZZES
mental health guru includes depression and anxiety symptom quizzes with feedback.
VIDEOS
mental health guru features videos of real people describing their experience with mental health problems in the workplace.
PRACTICAL ADVICE
mental health guru offers practical advice about how to assist colleagues and responsibilities of supervisors.
mental health guru features
Brief training for all staff
Information and how to get help
Interactive myth busting
Practical advice
Responsibilities of supervisors
Evidence for effectiveness
mental health guru has been evaluated in a randomised controlled trial, which showed use of the program improved employee knowledge and decreased employee stigma about depression and anxiety, and these effects were sustained after six months.
ehub Health welcomes independent research on the use of mental health guru. We encourage researchers to contact us to discuss the requirements of your research.
References
mental health guru:
Griffiths, K.M., Bennett, K., Walker, J., Goldsmid S., Bennett, A. Effectiveness of MH-Guru, a brief online mental health program for the workplace: A randomised controlled trial. Internet Interventions 2016; 6: 29-39. [Full text].
Myth-busting
Negative attitudes to mental disorders can prevent people from seeking appropriate help and can lead to worse outcomes. Stigma can also lead to mismanagement of issues within the workplace.
mental health guru busts common myths about depression and anxiety, and educates users so that workplace issues can be managed appropriately.
Smart phone friendly
mental health guru works on devices with different sized screens, including smart phones and tablets. Users access the program through their web browser – anywhere, and at any time – with privacy and confidentiality.
What mental health guru users are saying
“After using mental health guru, I had a conversation with someone to ask if they are okay, and was able to feel more confident about talking about support available.”
“I thought the videos of people giving their accounts was really good. It brought a human element to the content and demonstrated the different experiences that people may go through.”
“The myth busting and treatment sections were particularly useful. Also the personal stories were very good at explaining how people feel when they are depressed or anxious.”