Meet some of JT’s Mental Health First Aiders

Meet some of JT’s Mental Health First Aiders JT Group Limited

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Mental health touches everyone, whether you’ve experienced it yourself, or care for someone who has. All generations have experienced mental illness, but in today’s culture we are finally having long overdue conversations about it. Our duty of care to our people goes far beyond physical safety and there is no better way for employers to demonstrate commitment than to provide comprehensive mental health support.

At JT we have our very own team of 31 fully trained Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs). This is the largest number in any business on the island, and we continue to encourage and support our people to complete the training and become part of our Mental Health Working Group. All of our MHFAs have received internationally recognised training to help them identify the early signs of distress and mental health issues.

The qualification prepares people to provide a first response, offering confidential advice and guidance on mental health issues. Importantly, their roles do not take the place of a GP or other medical professionals, but it does offer some comfort to our people knowing there is someone there to talk to, and that it’s ok to talk. The team also work together to increase awareness of mental health issues within JT, encouraging people to be more open with their worries and to feel confident that they have a forum and support network around them.

We recognise that to best support our people and to succeed we must continue to raise awareness of mental wellbeing and commit to a continuous journey of learning and development in this area. We must react to change quickly, welcome challenges with agility and use our expertise and technology to aid communication and connection, within our business and community.

With the help of our MHFAs we hope to deliver the resources and knowledge needed for our people to build resilience, adapt and support each other through the best and worst of times.

Nicola Reeves Group HR Director

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Mark Le Feuvre

Power & Infrastructure Manager As a manager I firmly believe in leading by example with an open and transparent approach, my own experiences have taught me that’s what really matters to the team.

What made you want to become a MHFA? I suffered with serious depression and anxiety for a number of years, sometimes causing long absences from work. It’s taken time, but I’m in a much better place now. By way of giving something back I wanted to help others, so with some colleagues set-up the JT Mental Health Working group over 4 years ago. By contacting MIND we found out about the MHFA scheme for the workplace and we worked with HR to bring the scheme into JT, they’ve been really supportive and fully behind us every step of the way. We now have 31 fully trained MHFA across the company, something we are very proud of. As well as my role as a JT MHFA I also volunteer with MIND Jersey as a peer support worker.

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone going through a hard time mentally at the moment, what would it be?

The thing to remember is not to suffer alone and it’s ok not to be ok. It is normal, so try to speak to someone. Once you’ve broken that first step, recovery can begin. Make the most of your free time to do the things you enjoy be it exercise or something creative. I love to cycle, paint and sketch. Not good at any of them but I enjoy it and it’s great for my mental health.

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action”

JT Group Limited

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Kristle Gustilo Change Manager

My role as Change Manager is centred around analysing, developing and implementing solutions that change things for the better.

What made you want to become a MHFA? I’ve a lot of genuine ‘lived’ experience and along the way I was lucky enough to receive some great support and solid advice, so I wanted to be able to help, in the same way that I had been. I know how much it means to have someone to listen to you, sometimes that’s all that’s needed – and this I can do, gladly.

Thanks to the training JT and MIND Jersey have provided, I’ve developed techniques to ensure that I don’t take matters (that are not mine) onboard.

How important is it to JT to look after the mental health and wellbeing of employees?

It’s paramount to JT because good mental health is so important for a positive and enjoyable working environment. The average person spends a third of their day at work, your mental state can affect how you interact with others or interpret tasks or conversations and also has an impact on physical health. It’s counterproductive to have unhappy people at work, we know that.

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone going through a hard time mentally at the moment, what would it be?

You matter. Selfcare is important. Talk, write or draw what you are feeling and thinking. Getting it out is the first step.

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“Smile, breathe and go slowly”

Paul Perchard Signalling Engineer

What made you want to become a MHFA? I’ve suffered with ‘OCD – Pure O’ in excess of 30 years, in silence, often in fear of my own thoughts. If only I had realised how common it was, I could have gotten the help I needed and not suffered so much. If I can help just one other person from experiencing this trauma, then my suffering won’t have been in vain.

How important is it to JT to look after the mental health and wellbeing of employees?

A healthy work force is an efficient work force, in both body and mind.

Often, we neglect the mind, battling on in the hope things will get better. Education and awareness is the way forward and JT has made huge steps in the right direction to support people’s wellbeing.

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone going through a hard time mentally at the moment, what would it be?

Don’t be embarrassed to asked for help, you would not expect someone with a broken leg to carry on dragging their leg behind them as if nothing is wrong.

“Let’s take things one step at a time”

JT Group Limited

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Claire Pallot

PA to, MD of JT International What made you want to become a MHFA? I think it’s very important for people to know they have someone they can talk to about anything, at any time. I like helping people so for me it’s very rewarding to help someone to put their mind at ease and to see the positive results and effect that has.

How important is it to JT to look after the mental health and wellbeing of employees?

JT have a great MH team who are actively trying to create awareness and support employees in the workplace. We have links in the community with MIND and other specialist support groups, which are a great source of information and support for us to be able to drive this internally.

How have you been able to practically put to use your MHFA skills at JT? I have been approached multiple times to listen to people, for a variety of reasons and often they feel better when they are able to get it off their chest. I have also approached a few people that I thought wanted support but didn’t know how to ask for it.

JT Group Limited

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“There’s no weakness in asking for help”

Lee Beech

Health and Safety Officer I’ve been with JT for 17 years, working in many areas during that time, from replacing telegraph poles, supervising network maintenance to my current role as H&S Officer, ensuring both our people and the public are being kept safe.

How have you been able to practically put to use your MHFA skills at JT? I make myself available to colleagues for chats/coffees making sure they know they aren’t alone and there is help if needed. My training has made me much more aware of the signs that somebody may be struggling, I’m comfortable introducing myself, saying hello and asking if they’re ok, it’s the first step, talking.

Has your role as MFHA evolved as a result of COVID-19 and what were the challenges that brought?

It meant face to face meetings stopped, but thankfully we have the technology to mean talking didn’t stop, especially as the need grew.

We’ve kept in touch with phone calls, Teams, Skype, messenger and texts, reassuring everyone at JT that we’re available if required. We even began bi-weekly virtual coffee mornings, which were really well received. It’s encouraging how people now take time to contact me about concerns they have for their team members, which is a direct result of the focus JT has put on the importance of our Mental Health.

“We try to hide our feelings, but forget that our eyes speak”

JT Group Limited

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Lauren De Sousa Business Support Coordinator

The Business Support Team are a very skilled, hard-working team and it’s a challenging role, providing support to internal and external customers assisting with sales, billing, account management and problem solving.

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone going through a hard time mentally at the moment, what would it be?

Life is full of pressures and stresses, try not to add more to yourself.

Quite often the difference between feeling better and feeling worse is a matter of setting boundaries to ensure that you keep a healthy work/life balance, particularly when working from home. Whether that’s silencing your phone when you take your breaks or not agreeing to take on additional work which you know will place pressure on you, which you can’t deal with right now. It doesn’t mean that you don’t work hard or aren’t willing to push yourself sometimes, looking after yourself is the most important job that you can do.

Any tops tips to improve mental well-being in general?

Think about it. Take a breath. Sleep on it (if you can!) Don’t make decisions or respond when you’re feeling stressed, angry or anxious.

Quite often just taking a little break or sleeping on the problem will give you a clearer perspective and you’ll feel differently when you’re in a calmer mood.

JT Group Limited

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“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. BE KIND”

We’d like to thank MIND Jersey and MIND Guernsey for the specialist training our people received and their continuous encouragement, support and regular updates. It is widely recognised that mentally healthy workplaces experience less absence, increased productivity and greater customer satisfaction so if you’d like to help make a difference and want to become an MHFA with MIND please contact: E: mhfa@mindjersey.org

E: louisa.mace@guernseymind.org.gg

Want to become part of our JT Family? Click here for current vacancies > JT Group Limited

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