M&S is launching new Trusted Adult mental health training to help its 65,000 colleagues learn more about how to support young people.
The online voluntary training has been created as part of the retailer’s partnership with mental health charity YoungMinds and coincides with Children’s Mental Health week.
Through the training, staff will develop skills and understanding to support them in having conversations with young people around how they are feeling and help prevent them from reaching the point of crisis.
Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning
M&S is also launching a YoungMinds colleague network to support the training and ensure colleagues can access peer to peer advice.
The new network adds to the health and wellbeing support services already provided to colleagues, including access to online GP’s, counselling and financial advice.
M&S corporate affairs director Victoria McKenzie-Gould said: “When we asked colleagues and customers what issues were front of their mind, their family’s mental health was top of the list.”
M&S began its collaboration with YoungMinds in September 2023, marking its biggest ever charity partnership.
McKenzie-Gould added: “Our colleagues and customers have been phenomenal; helping us smash our initial fundraising target with a donation of £1.4m to date.”
It comes as M&S has become the latest retailer to urge the government to reform the apprenticeship levy rules.
M&S group director of human resources Sarah Findlater said that the retailer, which has 200 apprenticeships, would like to take on more trainees but is restricted from doing so under the current scheme.
