Half Your Team Should Be Mental Health First Aiders. Here’s Why.

Mental Health/First Aid training has finally taken its place in workplace wellbeing. Many organisations now recognise its importance, but fewer know what to do about it.

Content warning: discussion of suicide

The conversation that could change everything.

Imagine this.

You check in with a colleague who doesn’t seem themselves. They are making a coffee alone, and you seize the moment.

“Hey, how you doing? Haven’t seen you for a while.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“You just haven’t seemed yourself lately. You alright?”

(Silence. Pause.)

“My brother took his own life last month.”

What would you do in that moment? Are you equipped to respond?

Sadly, this is not an uncommon conversation. It is devastating, frightening, and emotionally heavy for both people.

Part of that support should come from a strong mental health community in the workplace. Your Mental Health First Aiders.

So, is having one or two really enough?

Why workplaces need more MHFAiders

According to consultancy firm Deloitte, poor mental health costs UK employers more than £51 billion every year, with 17 million working days lost to stress, depression, and anxiety.

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that 24% of adults said cutting back on energy use during winter affected their mental health. It reminds us that personal and professional pressures overlap.

This is where Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training makes a real difference.

A higher proportion of trained MHFAiders creates a culture of care and confidence. People feel safer asking for help, and managers feel more prepared to give it.

Leading UK employers, including Wellcome, Bupa and Siemens, plus our lovely client National Gas, are prioritising Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training across their workforces. Many organisations are targeting half their people to be trained over time.

It sends a clear message that mental health support is a shared responsibility, not simply a specialist function. When half your team understands how to spot signs, start conversations, and signpost support, mental health becomes part of daily life, not a job for a small few.

What a Mental Health First Aider actually does

A Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider) is not a therapist. They are a colleague, manager, or team member trained to:

• Spot early signs of poor mental health

• Start safe, supportive conversations

• Listen without judgement

• Signpost people to appropriate help

It creates a culture where asking “Are you okay?” is normal and where people know how to respond when the answer is “No, I’m not.”

Why traditional mental health training often falls short

Many organisations invest in wellbeing training, but too often it becomes another checkbox on a compliance form.

People attend a session, nod along, and return to business as usual without feeling more confident or capable.

That’s because empathy, listening, and connection cannot be learned from a slide deck. They are human skills that grow through experience and practice.

Research from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, shows that active, practice-based learning leads to stronger recall, greater engagement, and better results than traditional classroom methods. In other words, you get a better return on your training investment.

When learning is experienced rather than explained, it sticks.

How Sonny Side Up brings MHFA training to life

At Sonny Side Up, we deliver accredited MHFA England training and make it stick by practising real-life skills with each other, guided by professional actors. We believe that real learning happens when people practise mental health conversations.

As an actor and experiential trainer, I have seen how performance and empathy intersect and how realistic, emotionally grounded learning transforms confidence and connection.

We use professional actors to recreate authentic conversations. These conversations can be challenging, that’s why many people avoid them in the first place. Practising them in a safe, supported space makes it easier to speak up when it really counts.

Participants practise handling real-life scenarios, so when a moment like the one at the start of this blog happens, they already know how it feels and have the confidence to act when it matters most.

Teams are sometimes nervous when they hear actors are involved, but do not worry. The performing is on us. If you fancy joining in, even better.

Why this matters now

I’ve seen first-hand how training budgets are under pressure more than ever before, leaving many employees to handle difficult situations alone, without the confidence or support they need. The result is quiet strain across teams.

As we approach the darkest time of the year, financial pressures mount, workloads become heavier, and add safety worries for some about walking home after dark. Then there’s the added stress of Christmas. These moments might seem small on their own, but together they add up and can take a toll.

According to Mind, one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health condition every year. In a team of 20, that means around five people could be struggling at any one time.

Using Aon’s Mental Health Calculator, you can estimate the cost to your organisation from absence and presenteeism. The figures depend on your sector, salary levels, working patterns, and the wellbeing support already in place. You could save tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions each year.

But the biggest difference is the one you can’t measure: a workplace where people feel seen, supported, and safe to speak up.

Let’s make it happen

If your workplace has physical First Aiders, then it’s time to give mental health the same priority.

At Sonny Side Up, we deliver certified MHFA England training combined with actor-led workshops that help people practise real conversations and embed what they learn.

This is training that turns awareness into culture. We’ve seen the difference it makes with teams at 53Two, National Gas, Manchester College. We also make a difference across the creative community through our peer-to-peer support group: Side By Side: Creative Minds.

If you’re ready to build a more compassionate, confident workplace, please get in touch or book a 30-minute taster session.