Social Inclusion - so good for business

The business case for mental health awareness is evidenced by the increasing numbers of employers who are commissioning mental health awareness trainings for their workforce. Employers want trainings which enable their staff to understand more about common mental health conditions. Understanding mental health means that staff can work better with clients and customers. It also allows staff to feel less isolated about personal issues around health and well-being.

Mental health awareness provides the opportunity for employers and employees to find out more about the law as it relates to employment and mental health.

Enlightened employers will seek to develop a workforce team which is happy rather than unhappy, fulfilled rather than excluded. Courses such as MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) show that attendees often feel that one of the benefits of the training in that it allows for a safe space. A safe space where individuals can share feelings about their personal well-being in addition to learning about the broader aspects of mental health conditions and the appropriate interventions.

In addition to mental health, it makes solid sense for businesses to incorporate awareness of social inclusion and mainstream. Returning to or accessing mainstream living is now a key part of the care pathway for those diagnosed with 'severe and enduring' mental health diagnoses. It is equally important for people who may be experiencing conditions such as anxiety, phobia or stress at work.

Both groups - those in primary and secondary care - are being signposted to mainstream life rather than to special settings as a central plank of the recovery process. The implications for any service provider - and that includes businesses - are crucial. Businesses and services are at the receiving end of mainstream.

Clients in recovery are choosing to access their personal goals through a diverse range of outlets. These could range from faith venues to volunteer bureaus, from retail outlets to sports centres, from recording studios to adult education colleges, from libraries to personal counselors, from training venues to department stores.

For businesses, it's not just one in four of their staff who may be experiencing mental health challenges, it's also one in four of their clients, customers and service consumers. Mental health challenges will also have an impact on one in three families. Disclosed or undisclosed, it's clear that mental health and well-being lie at the heart of our transactions and interactions.

History of Social Inclusion

Social Inclusion and mainstream arise out of a history and out of a history of ideas.

Government think-tanks in the late 1990s and early 2000s had a key role in developing current thinking and practice around social inclusion. The envisaging of 'social domains' relevant to people's lives arises from these seminal ideas. The role of mainstream bridge builder is also developed around the concept of mainstream as a pathway for mental health recovery.

Social Inclusion goes back even further. The single act of defiance by Rosa Parks in 1955 in Alabama Mississippi. A black woman refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, thereby defying the segregration laws. A key moment that lies at the heart of the civil rights movement, not just for the United States but for equality and social inclusion everywhere.

Equal opportunities, diversity, social inclusion and fairness are now commonplaces, enshrined in the way we strive to live and work today.