National brokerage Just Mortgages has launched a series of online mental health workshops for principals at their broker firms to help them promote the mental health support available for individual brokers.
The workshop topics include “stress management” and “how to manage your team’s mental health” and are designed to complement the wellbeing part of their management induction which helps managers recognise the early signs of mental health issues. Managers are also taught the correct approach to take to offer brokers the confidential support that is available and how to access it.
The firm has also renewed their partnership with Health Assured who provide all Just Mortgages’ staff and brokers with an independent, free and confidential helpline offering mental health support over the phone. The Employee Assistance Programme is available 24/7, 365 and gives compassionate support to staff and brokers, whatever challenges they face.
John Philips, national operations director at Just Mortgages said, “Buying a house is always touted as one of the most stressful things in a person’s life but it’s easy to forget that It’s not just borrowers but brokers who are caught up in the stress and pressure of the process. The stress is inevitably going to have a knock-on effect for brokers, and this will be present and building throughout their professional career.
“We recognised that for many brokers dealing with the stress associated with home buying day-in day-out can negatively affect their mental health and so we wanted to put a structure in place where appropriate support was free and easily accessible. By launching these workshops we’re able to ensure that the head of broker firms are aware of the support available and can proactively communicate this to their brokers.
“It’s a crucial part of the success of the service that it is provided by a trusted third party so that confidentially is assured and help is provided without judgement or any stigma. Feedback from staff has been overwhelming positive since we introduced this, and I’d encourage every firm to look at providing this support if they don’t already.”
