Heartbeat: Course skills up security to support people with mental health issues

August 1, 2019

Lance Bryan, Security Officer at City Hospital is well aware of the high number of incidences that he and his colleagues are called to which involve a person with a mental health issue.

He thought that the team would benefit from some in depth training in order to help them deal with what can be a very challenging aspect of the role.

Taking the opportunity to try to better equip himself and his colleagues, he managed to secure funding in order for the team to undertake an intensive Level 3 Principles in Mental Health course. Over a number of weeks the course sought to provide students with a better understanding of the role of mental health.

“The courses that we had been on previously only scratched the surface, they were only things like one day seminars. I wanted something that meant we could dig a little deeper,” Lance said.

The course covered a range of topics including coping mechanisms, root causes and how to deal with people who may be suffering with mental illness.

Lance added: “The nature of our job means that we can be called into A&E where a patient may be in the middle of a mental health crisis. And the course has helped a lot dealing with that.”

The team is already very skilled in approaching challenging situations but the course has allowed them to build on existing experience.

Santokh Sagoo, Security Manager, also attended the course, he said: “When you get a deeper knowledge of a subject, when you understand what a person is going through and the reasons behind it, you gain empathy for people. That leads to treating people with more humanity.”

Getting physical with a service user is a last resort and it is traumatic for everyone involved, including for members of the security team. Training is a way of equipping the team to de-escalate a situation before it gets to that point.

“Any course that you do is holistic, it’s not just that you learn but it gives other skills. We gained academic skills, because it was at the level of an A- Level, this upskills us in all aspects of our work. I think it’s important to highlight the benefits of ongoing training for staff groups at our level as it increases aspirations and drives engagement and ownership because staff feel more valued as people,” Santokh commented.