LONDON, NEW YORK, EDINBURGH - May 16, 2023 -* Purpose-led ad platform Good-Loop today urged more companies to train their staff to become Mental Aid First Aiders (MHFAiders®) after announcing four of its employees have become fully qualified.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, the B-Corp certified company today announced that Claire Dillon (Head of People), Charna Walfall (Senior Marketing Manager), Alex Chrysanthou (Commercial Operations Executive) and Laura Carpenter (Marketing Executive) have all passed the course organised by Mental Health First Aid England.

Trained MHFAiders® receive three years of certification and are given the skills and knowledge to spot the signs of people experiencing poor mental health and signpost a person to appropriate support.

The mental health of employees across the ad industry has been in decline for a number of years. Despite many companies making pledges to improve support, Nabs, the ad industry's wellbeing charity, recently revealed demand for its services grew 49% last year as employees struggle to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the subsequent economic uncertainty and cost of living crisis.

Poor mental health costs UK employers up to £56 billion each year. But for every £1 spent by employers on mental health interventions, they get back £5.30 in reduced absence, presenteeism, and staff turnover (source: Deloitte, 2022).

Over the last 15 years, MHFA England has trained more than half a million MHFAiders® - around one in 45 adults - across 20,000 companies in England. However, there is still a way to go before the organisation can achieve its ultimate aim of training a 10th of the country's workforce. It's a mission Good-Loop's Head of People, Claire Dillon fully supports and called on more companies to sign up.

She said: "Becoming a Mental Health First Aider is truly one of the best decisions I've made. In my role particularly, the knowledge I gained has been invaluable in terms of supporting colleagues through hard times. It has opened my mind and empowered me to start open conversations with people who may be struggling with their mental health, and to be better able to actively listen, support and guide them through it.

"I would highly recommend doing the course so that you can better care for others, but importantly, yourself too. Spotting the early warning signs of poor mental health before your stress container is overflowing is key to addressing issues before they become completely overwhelming. I am proud that our employees have caring people to turn to, and that we have continued to take steps towards creating an effective and supportive wellbeing strategy at Good-Loop."

People trained as MHFAiders® are able to:

• Recognise those that may be experiencing poor mental health and provide them with first-level support and early intervention;
• Encourage a person to identify and access sources of professional help and other supports
• Practise active listening and empathy
• Have a conversation with improved mental health literacy around language and stigma;
• Discuss the MHFAider® role in depth, including boundaries and confidentiality;
• Practise self-care.

Good-Loop - a company on a mission to make the connection between brands and consumers more meaningful by delivering respectful ads that have real social impact - also offers all its employees a £100 monthly health and wellness budget.

To find out more about the Mental Health First Aid England course, click here.

About Good-Loop

Good-Loop is a purpose-powered ad tech platform that drives ad engagement by converting people's attention into donations to good causes around the world.

The company, which has offices in London and Edinburgh, is on a mission to make the connection between brands and consumers more meaningful by delivering respectful ads that bring real social impact, while also driving significant business and brand uplifts for advertisers.

The company has raised more than $5M for charities such as Save the Children, WaterAid and GOSH. Clients include Unilever, Nestlé, Levi's, Bose and H&M.

In February 2022, the company closed a Series A funding round of $6.1M, led by New York-based investment fund, Quaestus Capital Management (QCM), with additional backing from Scottish Enterprise, impact investor SIS Ventures and European ad tech fund First Party Capital, bringing total investment into the ad tech for good platform to $8.2M (£6m) since it was formed in 2016.