Healthy Mind for Healthy Business (ESF 3.193)

The project Healthy Mind for Healthy Business was presented
within the Operational Programme II Operational Programme II: Empowering People
for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life, under the Cohesion Policy
2007-2013.  The project is part-financed
by the European Union from the European Social Fund (ESF).

The project consists primarily of raising awareness on
mental health issues in the workplace. 
Its activities focus on enterprises and employees, and are intended to
generate positive attitudes towards mental health as an essential prerequisite
for employee well-being and personal development, but also for the success of
businesses themselves.

Richmond Foundation is the applicant and coordinating
partner of the project.  Other partners
include the Malta Employers Association, Malta Chamber Foundation, Gozo
Business Chamber, GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs, as well as the Occupational
Health and Safety Authority.  The
partners bring into the project a wealth of experience and expertise in their
respective areas of operation.

The project includes a research component, in which a
number of audits will be conducted among enterprises which will analyse the
working environment and any current policies in place.   The project activities and results will also
be monitored and evaluated throughout the project.  Towards the end of the project, a second
audit will assess the effectiveness of the activities in sensitising
enterprises to mental health issues and the need for policies to deal with
them.  

The project will attempt to improve the working environment
of enterprises that do not have a mental health policy in place.  It will produce guidelines for enterprises on
how they can go about formulating and implementing effective mental health
strategies, and will encourage businesses to participate in the training
sessions that will offered as part of the project's training component.

By engaging in targeted capacity building initiatives, the
project seeks to foster a supportive culture that will equip organisations with
the necessary tools to enable them to increase their knowledge on mental health
problems in their workplace.  An
Empowerment Programme, dealing with the development of a mental health policy
at the workplace, will be delivered by Richmond trainers to people in key
positions.  Further training will be
provided to Richmond personnel on how to run and manage the helpline for
enterprises.

The activities and results of the project will be
communicated to stakeholders and the general public using a mix of different
media, including printed material, billboards, and electronic media.  The project will make full use of online
communication channels such as social networking sites and email.

The experience gained during implementation of the activities
will lead up to the formulation of specific policy recommendations.  These will be presented during a final
conference, which will also provide a forum where the findings and results of
the interventions will be critically analysed and discussed.  The recommendations of the final conference
will be included in the final report, which will be published and will be
presented to a number of stakeholders and policy-makers working in the mental
health sector.

Tender No. HM/01: Provision of Research, Procedures Manual, Monitoring and
Policy Recommendations for the Project Healthy Mind for Healthy Business (ESF
3.193) includes services in connection with the research component, in which a
number of audits will be conducted among enterprises in order to analyse the
working environment and any current policies in place.  The service also includes monitoring of the
project results, as well as recommendations for enterprises and policy makers.

Tender No. HM/02: Provision of Awareness Raising Campaign for the Project:
Healthy Mind for Healthy Business (ESF 3.193) includes services in connection
with the communication and dissemination component of the project.

Both tender documents may be downloaded from the Richmond
Foundation website: http://www.richmond.org.mt/healthymind?l=1

The project will run from the first
quarter of 2013 until the end of 2014.