Employer Toolkit

Good Thinking is a digital service that helps Londoners look after their mental health and wellbeing in a way that works for them. We provide personalised advice, support and resources to help people struggling with:

• stress;
• anxiety;
• low mood;
• sleep;
• other mental health concerns such as trauma, bereavement and eating disorders.

Good Thinking provides a range of resources to help Londoners improve their mental wellbeing, including:

• free apps (NHS-approved and independently assessed);
• a clinically validated self-assessment tool powered by DoctorLink;
• quick quizzes which give tailored support recommendations;
• printable workbooks and guides;
• advice articles with tips to boost mental health;
• blogs and personal stories;
• podcasts;
• videos and webinars.

Our service is free of charge, NHS-approved and available 24/7 on any device and completely anonymous.

Find out more about the Good Thinking service and how to use the website to access the support you need.

This toolkit will introduce your organisation to the Good Thinking service. It will support you in raising awareness of the free, personalised advice, and NHS-approved apps and resources available through our website.

To make the most of this toolkit, we suggest following these steps:

1) Spend some time on the Good Thinking website familiarising yourself with our self-assessment tool, apps, guides and other content.

2) Download two or three of the apps that we recommend so you can see for yourself how they work.

3) Share the toolkit with anyone in your organisation who is involved in health and wellbeing (e.g. HR team, wellbeing leads, line managers, Mental Health First Aiders).

4) Incorporate Good Thinking into your health and wellbeing initiatives, e.g.:

• Include details of the Good Thinking service in your induction packs for new starters
• Link to Good Thinking from intranet and newsletter articles about mental health and wellbeing
• Provide your Mental Health First Aiders and line managers with information about Good Thinking
• Use our promotional tools to support mental health awareness campaigns (e.g. World Mental Health Day)
• Reference the Good Thinking service in wellbeing-related tweets and LinkedIn posts

5) Sign up to receive the Good Thinking newsletter.

6) Follow @GoodThinkingUK on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and like/comment/share our posts.

7) Use the share icons on Good Thinking's advice pages to pass on resources to employees and other organisations that you think would benefit from our service.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss how Good Thinking could further support your organisation’s health and wellbeing strategy.

It can be difficult to know if a colleague is struggling with their mental health, and opening up a conversation about mental health can feel difficult for a number of reasons; many people are uncomfortable talking about their feelings, and mental health issues are often stigmatised so people are worried that they may be judged for talking about their concerns. Sometimes we simply don’t know where to signpost people to for help.

Here at Good Thinking, we have created this practical guide with three simple steps to help you check in with your colleagues and friends at work on a regular basis and see how they are – the more open everyone can be about their feelings, the better.

• Looking out for friends and colleagues at work - Good Thinking’s quick guide to supporting people you work with who may be struggling with their mental health

Anxiety can be described as “a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe”. Whilst it’s natural to feel anxious or scared in certain situations and at certain times, it can sometimes be difficult to control anxious feelings and behaviour. Over time, the anxiety can become more serious.

On the Good Thinking service, your employees can:

• Use the free clinically-validated and anonymous self-assessment tool to help understand their anxiety. They will be asked questions that a GP or psychologist would ask and it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete. They will then receive recommendations for resources to help them.
• Take the anxiety quiz to find recommendations for free NHS-approved wellbeing apps, such as Be Mindful and tomo, and other resources. 
• Learn more about managing their symptoms in our advice about anxiety.
• Use the Centre for Clinical Interventions anxiety workbook.
• Get details of their local 24/7 NHS mental health helpline and other support organisations on our Urgent Support page.

When faced with pressure or a sense of threat, the body’s natural reaction is to release hormones that prepare us to escape the threat and protect ourselves (often called the ‘fight or flight’ response). This feeling of stress happens to everyone and can even be helpful in certain situations.

On the Good Thinking service, your employees can:

• Use the free clinically-validated and anonymous self-assessment tool to help understand their stress. They will be asked questions that a GP or psychologist would ask and it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete. They will then receive recommendations for resources to help them.
• Take the stress quiz to find recommendations for free NHS-approved wellbeing apps, such as My Possible Self and tomo, and other resources. 
• Learn more about managing their symptoms in our advice about stress.
• Use the Centre for Clinical Interventions mindfulness workbook.
• Get details of their local 24/7 NHS mental health helpline and other support organisations on our Urgent Support page.

Some things in life can have a negative effect on our mood. But if someone’s low mood lasts a long time (more than two weeks) and makes everything feel more difficult, they might have a mood disorder, such as depression.

On the Good Thinking service, your employees can:

• Use the free clinically-validated and anonymous self-assessment tool to help understand their low mood. They will be asked questions that a GP or psychologist would ask and it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete. They will then receive recommendations for resources to help them.
• Take the low mood quiz to find recommendations for free NHS-approved wellbeing apps, such as Be Mindful and tomo, and other resources. 
• Learn more about managing their symptoms in our advice about low mood.
• Use the Centre for Clinical Interventions depression workbook.
• Get details of their local 24/7 NHS mental health helpline and other support organisations on our Urgent Support page.

Around a third of adults have trouble sleeping at some point in their lives. This might include finding it hard to fall asleep, waking up in the night or feeling tired and irritable during the day.

On the Good Thinking service, your employees can:

• Use the free clinically-validated and anonymous self-assessment tool to help understand their sleep problems. They will be asked questions that a GP or psychologist would ask and it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete. They will then receive recommendations for resources to help them.
• Take the sleep quiz to find recommendations for free NHS-approved wellbeing apps, such as My Possible Self and tomo, and other resources. 
• Learn more about managing your symptoms in our comprehensive sleep workbook.
• Get details of their local 24/7 NHS mental health helpline and other support organisations on our Urgent Support

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the way we work, with many people having to work from home and others being on furlough. 

As we came out of lockdown, your employees might have had mixed feelings about returning to their normal work environment. Check out our six ways to support employees with returning to the workplace.

Our five ways to good mental wellbeing guide is a great place to start. We’ve also worked with faith communities to create five ways to good mental wellbeing guides through a faith lens (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafari and Sikhi). 

Parents and carers in your workforce might find our five ways to wellbeing posters for children and young people useful and they might also like to share our free NHS-approved wellbeing apps for under-18s with their children.

If one of your employees has lost a loved one, they might find our bereavement resources helpful. We provide advice on how to cope with grief and how to support someone else, as well as a range of faith-based bereavement resources.

IAPT (talking therapies)

If one of your employees needs greater support than can be offered through Good Thinking, they can access additional support in their local area.

NHS Talking Therapy services (also known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services) support people with mental and emotional issues, such as stress, trauma, anxiety and depression.

There are 32 Talking Therapy (IAPT) services in London delivering psychological treatments – one for each borough. Your employees can access the service by a referral from their GP or by self-referral from their local Talking Therapy service.

Find out more about IAPT on Good Thinking.

Urgent support

If one of your employees feels very distressed or unable to keep themselves safe, urgent support is available.

If someone is concerned about their mental health, their GP is always a good place to start. If they feel very distressed and can’t wait, or feel unable to keep themselves safe, they can text SHOUT to 85258 or call Samaritans on 116 123.

If they need help urgently but are not at risk of harm or serious illness, they should use the NHS 111 non-emergency advice online or call 111. For immediate support, they should go to their local A&E or call 999 for an ambulance.

Find out more about urgent support.

There is lots of help available for people who have a mental health concern. Here are a few useful websites (please note: Good Thinking is not responsible for the content on these websites):

• Business in the Community (BITC)
• Business Disability Forum
• Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD)
• City Mental Health Alliance UK
• Heads Together
• Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• Kooth Work
• Mental Health at Work
• Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England
• Mental Health Foundation
• Mind
• NHS
• Samaritans
• Shout
• Thrive LDN

• January – Dry January
• 16 January – Brew Monday
• 2 February – Time to Talk Day
• 24 February - 2 March – National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
• 13 March – No Smoking Day
• 18 March – World Sleep Day
• 20 March – International Day of Happiness 
• 7 April – World Health Day
• 28 April – World Day for Health and Safety at Work
• April – Stress Awareness Month 
• 15 - 21 May – Mental Health Awareness Week
• 21 May – World Meditation Day
• 24 July – Talk to Us (Samaritans Awareness Day
• September – Sleeptember
• 10 September – World Suicide Prevention Day
• 20 - 25 September – International Week of Happiness at Work
• 10 October – World Mental Health Day
• 10 - 14 October – National Work Life Week
• 6 November – National Stress Awareness Day
• 7 - 11 November – International Stress Awareness Week 
• 9 November – Social Media Kindness Day
• 13 November – World Kindness Day
• 16 - 20 November – Anti-Bullying Week