Mental Health Awareness Training for Local Charity
Staff at a charity supporting young volunteers have benefitted from accredited training in mental health first aid - thanks to the support of a national business operating in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
NSL Parking, a provider of parking enforcement services to local authorities Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian, engaged with the portal having seen a request from Project Scotland – who support young people aged 16-30 to undertake volunteering.
Project Scotland, part of the UK-wide Volunteering Matters charity, had made a request to provide staff with mental health first aid training.
NSL kindly donated the time of an employee who happens to be a qualified first aid mental health trainer – putting 8 members of Project Scotland’s team through their Level 5 qualification, with the company also paying for their certification.
Project Scotland staff provide front-line training, one-to-one mentoring and facilitatation to their young volunteers - enabling them to make valuable contributions to local communities. Volunteers may come from a variety of backgrounds - some of whom may have faced barriers or challenges in fulfilling their potential. Therefore, an important role of the organisation is to safeguard and ensure the wellbeing and mental health of their young people.
Paul Reddish, Chief Executive of Volunteering Matters (who are undergoing a merger with Project Scotland): “As a charity supporting our fantastic network of volunteers, we are always delighted to receive support from the business community. By posting our request on the ESES Communities portal, our team were pleasantly surprised to receive this invaluable training through the generosity of an organisation which may not otherwise have crossed our radar. Through simply donating the skilled time of their staff, NSL have equipped our team with the essential skills to support the wellbeing of our inspiring young volunteers”.
The session was delivered by Ross Gallier, a Skills Trainer with NSL, who is based in Edinburgh but covers their UK operations.
The skills learned in this Mental Health First Aid training aim to equip individuals and teams with the confidence to support the immediate and long-term wellbeing of people around us - at work, at home, school or anywhere else. During our session we tackled a range of issues - including some very hard-hitting subjects. However, by the end of the days there was a positive and empowered atmosphere amongst trainees, with tangible ideas to implement what they had learned into everyday practice.
Gerry Rooney, Client Account Manager for NSL said: “As a national organisation, NSL are proud to support the communities in which we work – including in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Having attended a briefing session on the launch of the ESES Communities portal, we then registered and immediately saw an opportunity to draw upon the skills of our team. Mental health is an important subject in which we are delighted to offer any support we can to organisations such as Project Scotland, who in turn work with some remarkable young people. Offering staff the chance to volunteer for such good causes is a small way of giving something back locally, but also an excellent way to acknowledge the value of our own team and boost their morale. I’d encourage other firms to sign up for the portal.”
Are you a business looking to find out how you can positively contribute to causes in your community? Visit our For Business page to find out more.
A charity or local community causes looking for support? Visit our For Communities section to read the guidance notes and register.