Mental Health Awareness Week

Taking better care of our own mental health and supporting others with theirs is something we're all encouraged to do. 

And Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs from May 12 to May 18, 2025, in the UK is a good place to start. 

This year's theme is 'community' which in its widest sense can be applied to your workplaces and the people you employ - including your apprentices. 

Adapting to a work environment, balancing on-the- job responsibilities with study time plus preparing for presentations, tests, gateway and ultimately End Point Assessment is a lot to contend with. Apprentices need support, especially from their employers, co-workers and training providers at what is literally a testing time in their young lives.   

Sourcing support: Able Futures 

Mental health awareness has improved in recent years and, fortunately, there are now a number of reliable sources of help and advice you can turn to.  

Able Futures, which delivers the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service in England, Scotland and Wales on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, advises SME employers and providers of apprenticeships on how they can support mental health at work. As it is funded by the DWP, it's free for providers and their apprentices.  This confidential service offers one-to-one coaching, advice and strategies all tailored to the individual's needs. 

As Able Futures acknowledges, the first year of an apprenticeship can be challenging. Learners often feel stressed, anxious and generally overwhelmed as they try to balance the demands of work, training and their personal lives.  

Mates in Mind 

Mates in Mind is a charity which also offers employers and their staff mental health and wellbeing training.  Its services are for those predominantly working in construction and related sectors such as logistics and transport.   

The charity also supports apprentices and college students via its holistic Let's Talk Mental Wellbeing Programme, designed to 'instil a confidence amongst apprentices in knowing where to seek support themselves, and how to start and manage that difficult conversation about mental health in order to break down the stigma that surrounds it'. 

And the need for apprentices to talk about mental health is very much apparent, recent survey findings would suggest.   

Mates in Mind found that of 550 apprentices surveyed: 

• 73% had felt stressed at least once in the previous week. 

• Only 33% said their employer/colleague would notice signs of mental ill health in others (the rest said no or were unsure). 

• 70% had never taken part in any mental health training and yet 91% said they thought training would help them to manage their own mental health. 

• Only 55% said they would reach out to someone if they were experiencing stress, depression or anxiety. 

While many employers are already aware of why and how they should be supporting their employees and apprentices, others clearly aren't.  

The Mental Health Foundation, via Mental Health Awareness Week, seeks to bring about positive change and challenge perceptions though its research, public engagement preventative programmes and policy and advocacy. Take a look at its website for further information and to find out how you and your workplace can get involved.