MENTOR
What is the MENTOR trial?
MENTOR aims to support employees with a mental health condition to stay happy, engaged and productive at work.
Individual tailored support for employees and their managers will be delivered by “Mental Health Employment Liaison Workers”, employed by our charity partner Mind. The liaison workers will provide independent and impartial support to both parties, focusing on practical advice for overcoming barriers faced in the workplace due to mental health, and aiding communication between employees and managers. Initially this will involve helping individuals identify their personal goals. These could be around how to manage personal wellbeing in the workplace, how to have more open conversations with team members, making adjustments to workplace conditions or many other topics.
What is involved and how long will it take to complete?
The liaison worker will provide support in making progress towards goals that you set. We estimate this will take no more than one hour for each week.
MENTOR will involve three sessions between you and the liaison worker, three sessions between the liaison worker and your manager, and four joint sessions with the liaison worker, you and your manager. These will be spread over a 12 week period and are expected to last around an hour for each session. The sessions can be held remotely. Depending on the goals you set and the actions you decide to work on, there may also be things to do between sessions. A great thing about this trial is how personalised it is, so any actions will be driven by what you want to get out of the service, as well as being sensitive to your circumstances and capacity.
During the trial we will ask you to complete some questionnaires. These will be very similar to the ones you completed as part of the initial screening process. We will use the results to see if taking part has had an impact on how you are feeling, and how that impact changes after the trial has finished. The questionnaires will be completed at the start, after the 12 week trial is completed, and again after a further 12 weeks have passed. We will use this information to learn how helpful the liaison workers are to people.
Read information for managers.
The study also aims to bridge the gap between your NHS healthcare provider and the challenges of the workplace. Liaison workers will write to your mental health care provider at the start and at the end of the process, informing them that you will be taking part and then summarising the results, e.g. the goals set and progress made. This is done so that your mental health care provider has a greater understanding of your workplace environment.
