World Mental Health Day 2025: looking after your apprentices’ wellbeing

Starting an apprenticeship can be an exciting but unsettling time for learners, especially if it’s their first experience of going to work. 

Different people, unfamiliar surroundings as well as unknown workplace systems and procedures can take a lot of getting used to, leaving apprentices feeling stressed and anxious if they don’t get the right support.  

Fortunately, the importance of good mental health is now recognised nationally and internationally, encouraging people to talk about stress and anxiety more openly. A number of events are now held annually to raise awareness, including World Mental Health Day which is celebrated on October 10. 

2025’s WMHD theme, chosen by the World Federation for Mental Health, focuses on why people should be able to protect their mental health, whatever they're going through, because everyone deserves to be mentally well.  

Supporting your apprentices to avoid stress and anxiety 

At Onefile we understand just what a big deal stress and anxiety can be for apprentices.  

In our own recent white paper, Maximising Apprenticeship Success: The Case for Learner Engagement, we looked at the impact of apprenticeships on mental wellbeing and found that stress was an issue for more than half of the apprentices we surveyed. Onefile asked them if their apprenticeship had ever made them feel stressed or anxious over the past 12 months and more than half said ‘yes’. Of these, nearly a quarter – 24.62% - said ‘yes, often’ and an even larger percentage – 29 .74% -told us ‘Yes, sometimes’. One in five – 20% - said they felt stressed ‘occasionally’.  

To learn more, we gave respondents who answered ‘yes’ or ‘occasionally,’ a multiple-choice questionnaire on what was causing their stress anxiety. 

Apprentices told us the most common causes were: 

• Not being able to manage the demands of the job/college work – 56.82% 
• The impact on their work/life balance – 43.75% 
• Not fully understanding what was needed from them – 43.18% 
• Worries about end point assessment (EPA) – 39.20% 
• Not receiving enough support and/or information – 36.3% 
• Feeling out of control with how they are being asked to work – 27.27% 

Adapting to a work environment, balancing on-the- job responsibilities with study time plus preparing for presentations, tests, gateway and ultimately End Point Assessment can take their toll. As our report’s findings clearly show, apprentices need support and understanding, especially from their employers, co-workers and training providers at what is literally a testing time. 

Sourcing support  

These days employers and training providers, as well as apprentices themselves, can access mental health support from a range of different sources, including Able Futures, UCAS and Mates in Mind. 

Able Futures 

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.  

UCAS 

The UCAS website features a useful, in-depth section aimed at apprentices: Mental Health and wellbeing: Starting a new job or apprenticeship.  

UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, recognises and acknowledges just how daunting this first step can be and also gives information on what to do if you have a pre-diagnosed mental health condition. Its advice includes letting employers and providers know before interview stage so they can make any adjustments to how the interview is conducted. Employers have a legal as well as a moral responsibility to not discriminate against an employee (or candidate) with a mental health illness that classifies as a disability. 

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.’ 

Talk to Onefile  

Onefile is committed to supporting employers, training providers and learners through our ongoing edtech advances. We’re constantly developing and honing tools that help apprentices to manage their stress levels. To find out more, book a discovery call, we’d love to hear from you.