Sunday 10 October marked World Mental Health Day 2021, an international day recognising mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma.
On WMHD 2020, the Service Chiefs made a commitment that all Armed Forces personnel would receive an annual, mandatory mental health briefing from 2021. This first Annual Mental Fitness Brief has now launched for the first time.
The brief covers the most important aspects of developing and maintaining good mental fitness, including the steps you can take for yourself and letting you know where how to reach out into support services. Whilst the brief derived from the Service Chiefs commitment it is relevant to all and can also be used by civil servants - we encourage every one of you to engage with it, learning more about your mental health and those around you, and to make the most of this new product, which will continue to be developed year on year.
The Annual Mental Fitness Brief is hosted on the Defence Learning Environment (DLE), which can be accessed via Defence Gateway. You can access the DLE here and search for ‘Annual Mental Fitness Brief’. If you haven’t already, you can register for Defence Gateway here.
The videos also include personal stories from people within the Armed Forces community who have faced challenges with their mental health. They candidly share the steps they took to improve their mental wellbeing and the support that was available.
The modules will help you:
- Understand what mental health is
- Use basic tools to increase resilience and mental fitness
- Know where you can find support
- And overcome personal barriers to seeking help.
The brief is complementary to the other single Service and civilian mental health training packages such as OpSMART, TRIM, Thriving at work, Mental Health First Aid and HeadFit.