Taking a stand to end discrimination against those with mental health problems
11 Jun 2014 11:57 AM
Home Office
pledges support to ‘Time to Change’ campaign to end the stigma of
those suffering mental health problems.
Home Secretary Theresa May and
the Permanent Secretary Mark Sedwill have pledged the support of the Home
Office in stamping out discrimination faced by people with mental health
problems.
Permanent Secretary Mark Sedwill
said:
I’m really proud that the
Home Office is the 200th organisation to sign the Time to Change
pledge.
I’m also proud that we
have an excellent action plan to put into effect because that is what really
matters.
Signing the pledge is a public
commitment to put the Home Office at the forefront of employers throughout the
United Kingdom to tackle mental health issues in the
workplace.
It is essential that employees
who have mental health problems receive the support they need, and that others
know how they can reach out, help and support not just their colleagues within
the workplace, but all those for whom we as a Department have that wider
responsibility.
Signing the
pledge
The ‘Time to Change’
campaign is a nationwide initiative that aims to increase mental health
awareness across the country by asking businesses, local authorities and
government departments to sign a pledge of support.
This public display of
commitment demonstrates to staff, customers and the community that the Home
Office is leading the way in addressing and challenging stigma and
discrimination relating to mental health.
The Home Secretary and Permanent
Secretary were joined at the signing of the pledge by Director of ‘Time
to Change’ Sue Baker, Mary Calam the Home Office disability champion and
Alvin Kofi MBE the chair of the Home Office disability support
network.
Support for
staff
The Home Office has drawn up an
action plan on tackling mental health discrimination which
includes:
-
training sessions for staff to
help them feel confident in sharing their experiences of mental health
problems;
-
facilitating a number of buddy
networks for staff to support each other through the Home Office Disability
Support Network (HODS) and;
-
the introduction of the
‘Break the Stigma’ support group for staff suffering from anxiety
and depression.
The Department also has a Health
and Wellbeing Strategy that will be implemented over the next three years which
will help to ensure all employees understand their health and wellbeing
matters.