Persimmon trains mental health first aiders to help staff in Leeds

Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire is putting two employees through a national training programme to become fully-qualified mental health first aiders. The firm will also hold mental health awareness days for staff.

Paul Curry, Persimmon’s national training manager, is a fully qualified mental health first aid trainer and he will be leading the programme in West Yorkshire.

He said: “In the UK we are facing huge mental health challenges at work. Mental health covers a wide area and can include our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Our new training programme has been developed specifically for our industry and nationally we will train more than 60 mental health first aiders to deliver support to colleagues.”

Research published by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) as part of its mental health awareness week showed that the construction industry as a whole is one of the worst affected by mental health due to the number of high-risk jobs.

Simon Usher, Persimmon’s Yorkshire regional divisional director, added: “This new programme has been welcomed across the business and in the next few months we will be rolling out a further programme of mental health awareness sessions.”