MENTAL HEALTH PEER FIRST AID AT WORK — PART 1
Setting It Up
Mental Health Peer First Aid can give employees an earlier, more human route to support. It is not about turning colleagues into therapists. It is about creating a workplace where trained and supported peers can notice, listen, offer a safe first conversation and help somebody find the next appropriate step.
Part 1 of this three-part series looks at the foundations. It explores what the peer role should and should not involve, how to choose the right people, the importance of boundaries and confidentiality, preparing supporters for different presentations of distress, making the service accessible and ensuring the people providing support are looked after too.
The guide also considers something that can easily be missed: peer support must never replace organisational responsibility. When distress is connected to workload, bullying, lack of control, inaccessible systems or poorly managed change, the workplace itself may need to respond.
This resource is designed for employers, managers, HR teams, wellbeing leads, workplace champions and employees who want peer support to feel safe, human and sustainable rather than becoming another policy that exists only on paper.
Part 2: Noticing, Listening & Understanding
Part 3: Supporting Safely & Knowing What Happens Next
Space to Breathe Therapy
Support • Understand • Belong
