The people who bring The Mental Health Toolkit to life
Our trainers come from diverse professional fields, having worked in mental health services, education, prisons, addiction and trauma treatment, and organisational leadership roles.
But there are many things our trainers have in common:
- They recognise you as an expert in your own experience
- They share the view that the best way to respond to rising stress, anxiety and depression is to share the knowledge and skills needed to promote mental health at home, at work, in schools and everyday life
- They seek to free ideas from clinical jargon and communicate them in language which is inclusive of everyone and easy for you to share
- They give you a framework that even experienced professionals gain from, which will help you to make sense of your experiences, too
- They share techniques with you that are informed by their extensive professional experiences and qualifications as psychotherapists
And they can tell you in their own words what they love about being Mental Health Toolkit trainers a little further down the page.
We also have a team of skilled co-facilitators
Our co-facilitators join trainers on all our online courses, allowing the trainer to give their full attention to the group and stay focused on delivery. This sets us apart from most other online training providers. The co-facilitators also ensure the online environment is safe and secure – managing technical functionality and being a contact point for participants – to give learners a seamless experience.
What our Training team loves most about The Mental Health Toolkit:
The most rewarding part is how our approach helps people understand their situations from a new perspective. Hearing the shifts that attendees are able to make immediately after the training gives me such meaning and purpose and motivates us as a team to bring our best to each training to support individuals, communities and organisations.
Charlie
The Mental Health Toolkit is a really intuitive way of looking at mental health. I love delivering this training as it helps us talk about mental health and wellbeing in a really useful and accessible way. It’s great to see attendees having those lightbulb moments during training and seeing how they can use our approach to help others and themselves.
Penny
It’s great getting to meet and work with so many different people and hearing all the ways that attendees are using what they have learnt on their training, to make life better for themselves and those around them.
Fiona
I love training people with The Mental Health Toolkit because it makes taking care of mental health and wellbeing straightforward and practical. There’s nothing better than seeing people leave a session, excited about how they can implement what they have learned to improve their lives, as well as the lives of their colleagues, family and friends.
Karys
I enjoy providing ideas, materials, and ways of thinking that are practical, understandable and not lots of mental health jargon. They can then pick what they want to remember and use it to create a life that works even better for them.
Sue
The thing I love about training is where an idea is shared and although it may be a new perspective it really resonates with another person’s experience. For training where we meet more than once it is so heartening to hear where that idea has made it’s way into their practice and has already started to help others and become of practical, helpful use to someone who really needs it.
Phil
I love being a trainer with The Mental Health Toolkit because it is the most holistic, practical, and empowering approach to understanding mental health that I have come across, and I can see how the knowledge, tools and techniques that we provide help to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Zoë
What I love about training from this approach is seeing people make the connection between the challenges they face and the emotional needs of the people they live and work with. I’ve lost count of how many people have told us that the approach helped them make sense of challenging situations at work and at home, and to take the next step towards finding a solution which met everyone’s needs.
Ezra
The Mental Health Toolkit offers a truly universal approach to mental health that is accessible to all. One of the things I particularly like about delivering the training is that it gives people the language to talk about, understand and take care of their own, and others’, mental health and wellbeing.
Jo
What our Corporate Relationships Manager loves most about The Mental Health Toolkit
Wendy Sheppard liaises with organisations and employees to help them find the right training for their needs, and encourages businesses to go beyond with their workplace wellbeing. She also delivers our Introduction to The Mental Health Toolkit sessions.
Wendy says:
“The most enjoyable and rewarding part of my role is when I get to talk to organisations across Suffolk and beyond. I have really meaningful conversations with decision makers who are looking to improve workplace culture and provide mental health solutions for their people.
“The Mental Health Toolkit by Suffolk Mind meets the immediate need and goes beyond by providing a ‘whole organisational wellbeing programme’. Once I have explained our approach to mental health, using the organising idea. I see faces change, it’s like a light bulb moment when they realise how relatable and user friendly it is. I just love it!”
What our Chief Executive loves most about The Mental Health Toolkit
Jon Neal is the Chief Executive of both The Mental Health Toolkit and our parent organisation, Suffolk Mind. He also presents our Introduction to The Mental Health Toolkit sessions.
Jon says:
“There are two things that are particularly satisfying about The Mental Health Toolkit. The first is the ‘penny drop’ moments that so many people experience when they realise ‘oh, that’s why my kids do that’, or ‘that’s why my team reacted badly to whatever-it-is’, and so on.
“The second is seeing how people implement what they’ve learned – whether they carry their cards around with them to aid chats with colleagues, or they use their cards to check in with themselves, even sharing the results or insights on LinkedIn so they have a record and can hold themselves to account.”
