New Mental Health Strategy For Dentistry
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- Published: Monday, 10 May 2021 21:17
- Written by Chris Tapper
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A call has been made for dental workplaces to appoint Mental Health Awareness leads.
The Mental Health Wellness strategic steering group has also recommended that all members of dental team should undergo Stress Awareness Training.
The new initiative by Mental Health Wellness (MHW) also advises that mental health awareness leads also undergo mental health first-aid training as well as complete annual training and maintain their skills.
The steering group was formed through the Dental Professional Alliance (DPA) and the new initiative has been launched to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week.
A press release from MHW and the DPA said “Mental health is never far from front page news and it has a longstanding association with dentistry.”
“To anyone that understands the intricacies of being part of a dental team and especially the clinical team, it is difficult to perhaps see why there have only ever been papers and research on dentists.”
“Yes, there are added pressures, but if pressures spill over, it can very quickly become a team matter. Support for the whole team is varied across settings (primary and secondary care), and across team members and yet mental health knows no such boundaries.”
“Whilst we know that stress, anxiety, and burnout are not mental illnesses we know that they can add to mental health issues.”
MHW said a recent paper by Humphris et al which looked at health and wellbeing as an outcome of uncertainties of the pandemic in members of the dental team, reported significant findings.
The initial call to action from the initiative is that each dental workplace should have an identified individual who acts as a ‘Mental Health Wellness Lead’ and who through a recognised training programme is confident, competent and committed to improving the perception of mental health wellness in the workplace.
“Of 329 respondents the researchers report that 27% appear to have reported significant depressive symptomology and 55% appear to suggest that they have suffered emotional exhaustion.”
The initial call to action from the initiative is that each dental workplace should have an identified individual who acts as a ‘Mental Health Wellness Lead’ and who through a recognised training programme is confident, competent and committed to improving the perception of mental health wellness in the workplace.
The MHW and DPA also recommends the development of a workplace action plan and that leads join local peer support networks.
The Mental Health Wellness strategic steering group was formed through the Dental Professional Alliance, specifically to co-design, develop and maintain a framework that encourages and enables all dental professionals to act in a timely, appropriate, and safe manner when identifying Mental Health Wellness issues in the workplace.
The strategic steering group has been led and Chaired by Fiona Ellwood BEM DPA, a trained and practising Mental Health First Aider, and Roz McMullan, Chair of Probing Stress in Dentistry in Northern Ireland.
Roz McMullan said, “No one should feel alone or unable to talk to someone at work and for this very reason, this ‘Call to Action’ asks decision makers and line managers to adopt this cultural change to Mental Health Wellness in the dental workplace and commit to the recognised training pathway.”
Fiona Ellwood added, “We want this mental health wellness to deliver real change in the dental workplace through a plan of practical advice and action. We will work with partners to provide leadership, support, and direction on joint work. We will work with employers, local teams and professional partners in UK to oversee implementation of the framework. Fundamentally, we want to see a Mental Health Wellness Lead in every practice and place of dental employment across the UK.”
The initiative has wide support from many endorsing partners in dentistry, which includes the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, the General Dental Council, the College of General Dentistry, British Dental Association, British Orthodontic Society, Association of Dental Groups, British Association of Dental Therapists, British Society of Dental Hygiene & Therapy, Society of British Dental Nurses and the British Association of Clinical Dental Technology.
For more information about the initiative and how you can get involved, click here.
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