Could Mental Health First Aid Law Save Lives?

By Aria P

On Wednesday, Tory MP, Dean Russell presented a new law to Parliament, requiring businesses to offer mental health first aid training.

He told the Commons that this legislation will lead to “early signposting [and] guidance”, preventing the loss of lives because of poor mental health.

Currently, many businesses do offer mental as well as physical health first aid training, yet a law to make this compulsory could encourage more to do the same.

Mr Russell referred to the stigma surrounding mental health in the workplace despite increasing recognition, saying “many learn to hide their pain in fear of damaging their careers.”

The additional mental health training would cost businesses some money, but it may help reduce workdays lost due to poor mental health in the future.

As Russell references in his speech, “the Centre for Mental Health estimates that 10 million more people will need mental health support as a direct result of the pandemic”.

The Bill was proposed as a Ten-Minute Rule Bill. While these rarely become laws, they allow MPs to raise awareness of certain issues in society, in this case, mental health.

This is the second time the Bill has been proposed, but Russell says he will “never give up”.

Considering the current state of the NHS, perhaps awareness of methods of prevention is the way forward. While this proposed law and campaigns such as “Where’s Your Head At!”, mentioned in Russell’s proposal, will not bring back lives lost due to poor mental health, through early prevention, they might make a significant difference in the future.