The Skipton Building Society is supporting its colleagues and their mental health with the appointment of 10 new mental health first aiders in time for Mental Health Awareness Week.

Skipton’s entire employee relations team have trained to become dedicated mental health first aiders to help colleagues across the Society.

In addition, four colleagues took park in an extra ‘train the trainer’ course to able them to coach other colleagues across the Society to become a mental health first aider to raise the number of them internally.

Lisa Davis, chief human resources officer at Skipton, said: “Research shows that most of us will experience something we’d describe as a mental health problem at some time; in fact it’s reported that only 13% of the UK population has a high level of good mental health and that’s too low.

“Work is a big part of most adults’ lives and therefore our workplace is a key setting for understanding and addressing our mental health. At Skipton we believe in a workplace where everyone can thrive. Mental health really has become a significant issue across the world and in many circumstances all people need is a person they can trust available for support.

“With stress being an important factor towards mental health, it was clear to us that we need a team of dedicated colleagues on hand to support others across the society new mental health first aiders. Our aim is to look after and best support our colleagues who may be facing difficulty with mental health and encourage them not deal with it alone.”