Perhaps the greatest hurdle for the majority of organisations Psyched meets is that at every level of the business, leadership teams and employees alike are unsure of what their company currently does, or indeed can do, to help promote mental performance and wellbeing and tackle poor mental health. A recent survey conducted by our sister firm The Lighthouse Company identified that 83% of leaders didn’t know or were unsure how their organisation supported mental performance and wellbeing.

Every sector of business is facing continual levels of unprecedented change and no matter the superhuman stamina or resilience demonstrated by individuals, the impact of this in fostering workplace stress is becoming increasingly evident. As workplace stress is not going to disappear, it is our responsibility to help our employees manage, minimise and even embrace the occupational pressures they are faced with daily.

The purpose of Psychoeducation is exactly as it sounds – to educate and equip boards with the knowledge to meet their duty of care to their employees’ mental health while at the same time promoting the benefits of peak mental performance. In the same way that gym subsidies, cycle to work programmes, healthcare schemes and the like have strengthened physical performance both in and out of the workplace, Psychoeducation is the first step for many organisations to initiate action around mental performance and wellbeing to help address the ‘whole self’.

First and foremost, Psychoeducation is for CEOs, leaders and pioneers – not just for HR teams. While your HR team may be the primary gateway to employee matters, the responsibility for addressing performance and wellbeing lies with every leader, manager and individual within the organisation. Psychoeducation can provide everyone in your business with the knowledge to be better aware of those around you, and better equipped to offer support, encouragement and direction to those looking for it.

While most of us would have no issue talking about the positive impact of managing mental performance, there is still much apprehension and judgement around discussing issues around poor mental health – in a way that we would never think about poor physical health. Psychoeducation aims to address this through both the education and involvement of those within your organisation.

Our Psychoeducation programme has been developed to deepen understanding of mental performance, wellbeing and health. In particular for poor mental health, we will identify options to address this beyond medication.

Our programme also helps the individual to understand the impact and effects of stress, anxiety and depression, how to identify the warning signs of these different states, and also to take stock of how this impacts on the whole self.

We provide participants with the tools to manage mental challenges, but just as importantly, maintain peak performance; how to manage stress to prevent it escalating into anxiety and depression, the importance of reality checking, positivity, self-awareness and mindfulness, as well as how to exercise some control over our body and reactions when under pressure.

Psyched’s Psychoeducation programme is a practical knowledge building course and, at its conclusion, the individual will have numerous techniques and tools to take away, know how to check in with oneself, while at the same time understand the importance and impact of support from established as well as newly built networks.