During Mental Health Awareness Week 2024, OSB Group will be providing domestic abuse awareness training to colleagues.

In 2023, 2.4 million people in the UK experienced domestic abuse, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexuality or background.

The Haven, a refuge for women and children, will be providing the training for OSB Group colleagues via The Purple Pledge that supports employers to provide a safe, open organisation where employees can recognise, respond and refer to local support. OSB Group have a longstanding partnership with The Haven in Wolverhampton where one of their offices is based.

Earlier on this year, OSB Group also provided Mental Health First Aid training to Demelza, a Kent based children’s hospice. The training included a learning framework to help the charity colleagues to listen without judgement, and signpost available support via both professional and charitable organisations. The course also covered the importance of a family and friends support network to a person’s mental health journey, as they can be hugely beneficial to a person’s road to recovery.

Oliver Spencer, marketing and comms storytelling officer at Demelza, said: “The Mental Health First Aider course was so valuable. My role at Demelza means I spend a lot of time with different teams across the whole organisation, so I’m really well-placed to recognise someone who might be struggling with poor mental health. Having completed my qualification, I now genuinely feel like I have the tools to support others.

“Carly and Richard from OSB Group were great – they gave us space to discuss difficult concepts and take breaks if we needed to, and there were lots of chances to practice our new skills too.”

Neil Richardson, chief sustainability officer at OSB Group, added: “The strong partnerships we hold within our local communities is something we are immensely proud of here at OSB Group. To be able to knowledge and training share is really valuable to all involved.

“Not only have been able to gift training to charity partners but we are also going to receive training from charity partners too. This demonstrates the importance of partnerships going deeper than monetary funding, although that too is key to the support we provide.”