Ben will offer a full day’s training to support business managers understanding of mental health issues as part of a new initiative.

The not for profit organisation plans to work in partnership with employers to raise awareness about mental health, manage mental health in the workplace and provide practical tools for individuals to help them better manage their mental health as part of the new scheme.

A full day’s training for managers entitled ‘Managing mental health in the workplace’ and an employees’ masterclass covering coping with stress, work-life balance and mindfulness for beginners are also on the cards.

Ben said in a stamen that the courses are designed specifically for people working in the automotive industry and are suitable for all organisations.

Commenting in their work on mental health issues, in partnership with Ben, Sharon Ashcroft, HR director at TrustFord, said: “I’m so glad that earlier this year we teamed up with Ben and trained all of our managers in how to deal with mental health issues.

“We also held workshops for all our colleagues to raise awareness and give them the confidence to be comfortable to let their manager know if they were suffering.”

Jools Tait, business development Director at Ben, said: “Our aim is to support the people working in the automotive industry with any mental health challenges they face, as well as providing the training needed by their managers so they know how to support them.

“We believe that, through BenTraining, automotive businesses will benefit from reduced absence and improved productivity in their workforces.

“According to our figures, we have seen a big increase in demand for help with mental health issues from those working in our industry over the last year.

“We are therefore responding to this growing need by providing this important training service, as part of our new Ben4Business programme.

“We are committed to developing the relevant services needed to prevent people from suffering in silence as well as help them remain resilient to the challenges that life brings.”

Through BenTraining, Ben claims to deliver real business benefits of improved productivity and reduced absenteeism.

The development of this new service is in direct response to the huge increase in demand for mental health related help from people in the automotive industry.

Ben received a 78% increase in requests for help from people about their mental health during 2016-17, compared to 2015-16.

The organisation said that this could be due to mental health becoming a hot topic on the news agenda and testament to the awareness raised through Ben’s ‘Hats on 4 Mental Health Day’.