Facilities management company The Westgrove Group has appointed its first site-based mental health first aider, at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton, to champion awareness of mental health.
As part of the service to shoppers the centre was keen to ensure that they identified a mental health first aider, something which is being called for by many companies in the UK to be mandatory as part of the ‘Time to Change’ campaign
After a mental health awareness week in 2018, Changing Minds, the centre and Westgrove worked together to train over 80 staff in mental health awareness. A member of the team, Paul Ogden, pictured, one of the centre’s Guest Service Ambassadors, took on the role as mental health champion. Paul is now available to offer support and advice to vulnerable customers visiting the centre or to centre tenants. Paul completed a mental health first aid course through St John Ambulance, the nation’s leading first aid charity, and a NCFE CACHE Level 2 certificate qualification in Mental Health Awareness.
Nikki Wilson-Cook, Centre Manager of Market Place said: “With mental health in the workplace being such a burning issue nationally, we are proud to be setting an industry precedent with the introduction of our first Mental Health First Aider at Market Place. Paul Ogden is equipped with all the skills required to help someone, be it a colleague or a member of the public suffering mental distress, which is all too common an occurrence today.”
The Westgrove Group, based in Warrington offers security (it’s a member of the ACS Pacesetters membership group), cleaning and security services in shopping centres, corporate businesses and retail. Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “As a company, we take mental health extremely seriously so we are very proud to be one of the first facilities management companies in the UK to appoint a mental health first-aider.
“We are fully on board with the ‘Time to Change’ campaign, supported by many UK businesses, to take mental health more seriously in the work place as we believe that mental health needs to be given the same weight as physical first aid.
“Since starting in the new role, Paul has rolled out his training to the Westgrove team onsite and to the tenants within the centre. He has already identified a number of vulnerable customers and offered them advice and support. We will be looking to appoint mental health first aiders at many more centres across our UK portfolio during 2019.”
