Mental Health Training for Managers in Scotland: How to Plan It Well

If you are responsible for training managers, you have probably been asked to “do something about mental health”. It is a fair request, but it leaves a lot of questions. What should managers actually learn? Does everyone need the same course? And how do you know it has made any difference?

This guide is for HR teams, business owners, health and safety leads and senior leaders in Scotland who are planning that training. It is written from what we see when we work with organisations, not from a template.

Start with what managers actually need to do

Most managers are not asking to become counsellors. They want to know what to do on a Tuesday afternoon when someone on their team is clearly not themselves. In practice, that comes down to five things:

• Notice the early signs that someone is struggling, including the quieter ones
• Start the conversation in a way that feels natural, and keep it going
• Know where to point people, inside and outside the organisation
• Understand reasonable adjustments and what a manager can and cannot agree to
• Look after themselves, so they can keep doing all of this

If a course does not build confidence in those five areas, it is unlikely to change much once people are back at their desks.

What the law expects of employers in Scotland

Most people know the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It is the reason we have risk assessments, trip hazards taped off and fire drills. What is often overlooked is that the Act covers mental health too. It requires employers to protect the health, safety and welfare of their people so far as is reasonably practicable, and health includes mental health.

Under the regulations that sit alongside the Act, employers must also assess the risks their work creates, and that includes the risk of work related stress. The Health and Safety Executive treats stress in the same way as any other workplace hazard, and its Management Standards set out how to manage it.

There is also the Equality Act 2010. If someone’s mental health condition counts as a disability, you must make reasonable adjustments. No law names a particular mental health course, but these duties apply to employers across the UK, including Scotland.

Managers are where those duties become real. They are usually the first to see the signs, and the first to be asked for flexibility. Our article on what the law actually requires covers this in more detail.

Policies sit on the intranet. Managers are the ones in the room when someone is struggling.

Does every manager need the same training?

Usually not. Most organisations use a mix, based on the role people play rather than their seniority:

• Every manager: awareness, conversation skills and knowing where to signpost. A half day or full day often covers this well.
• Managers who handle sensitive situations often: people in high pressure or safety critical roles, or with large teams, benefit from deeper training.
• A smaller group of mental health first aiders: people across the organisation, not only managers, trained in more depth to offer initial support.

If you are unsure which level suits which group, our guide to choosing between Level 1, 2 and 3 explains the differences.

Planning a rollout across your organisation

Training 50 managers is a different job from training five. A few things make it run smoothly:

• Train in small cohorts. Groups of up to 12 or 16 leave room for real practice and questions.
• Fit it around the work. Shift patterns, peak seasons and site locations all matter. Training at your workplace, online or at a central venue gives you options.
• Start with the people who set the tone. When senior leaders take part early, managers take it more seriously.
• Check your support routes first. Make sure managers will know where to send people, whether that is an employee assistance programme, occupational health or local services.

How you will know it worked

This is the question most organisations skip. A certificate shows someone attended. It does not show that anything changed. It is worth deciding before the training what you will look at afterwards, for example:

• Whether managers feel more confident starting a difficult conversation, asked a few months later
• Whether people are using the support available to them
• How absence, and return to work after absence, is being handled
• Whether managers know who the mental health first aiders are and how to involve them

It does not need to be complicated. It just needs someone to look.

How we can help

Our mental health training for managers is designed by practising therapists and built around our REACH OUT framework. Our courses are credit rated and recognised by Qualifications Scotland, with levels that are equivalent to the RQF in England. We deliver at your workplace anywhere in Scotland, online, or at our training centre in Glasgow, and we can help you plan the right mix for your organisation.

Questions employers ask about training managers

This article is part of our practical guide to workplace mental health training for UK employers.