Toolbox talks are a valuable way of helping everyone keep good mental health front of mind. They are not just designed to educate around self-management, they can also be an important part of The Integrated Approach by embedding the desired culture associated with how we treat each other and how we can help each other out if we see signs of struggle.
When we feel we are running out of ideas for toolbox talks, the tendency is to reduce their frequency and this is not what is best for the workforce or the business. A technique that has both benefit for the manager in drawing out ideas and for the workforce is to ask some simple questions to elicit the topics from them.
For example:
What are the hazards to mental health on site?
What creates stress in this workplace for you?
When you leave work at the end of the day with a smile on your face, what has caused that?
Questions like these engage the workforce and give you ideas for your toolboxes, on both how to help manage the risks; and how to regularly recreate the positive factors that improve mood.
Some Toolbox Talk topics could include:
What is stress and how does it impact your body?
How does your mindset influence your mood and the mood of others?
What are the signs of poor mental health and what can you do if you’re experience these?
What can you do if you’re observing signs of struggle in a friend or colleague?
What can you do yourself to encourage healthy mental wellness?
What are the common mental health risks on site and how do we manage them? (this could be 10 different toolbox talks)
How do we extend our safety thinking to include mental health?
Beyond Blue have an excellent toolbox talk package on Mental Health in the Workplace available for free on their website. This package includes a longer 90 minute session to be delivered by a training professional or in-house educator and 3 x 5 minute sessions for managers or team leaders:
Heads Up
by
Beyond Blue
A free ‘adaptable’ toolbox talk is also available from Mental Health at Work, and while specific to the UK/Ireland, could be easily adapted to any organisation:
Mental Health at Work
The Laing O’Rourke Next Gear website presented earlier in Training and Development also provides a range of Mental Health related Toolbox Talks:
The Laing O’Rourke Next Gear