Growth in Mind is owned and run by Andy Foster.

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Andy is also the Training Manager and Associate Trainer at Havant and East Hants Mind. He periodically supports other training organisations as an Associate Trainer.

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Andy spent the first 20 years of his career in the corporate environment, working with a variety of industries and sectors. He became aware, as many of us have, of challenges faced when mental health is compromised. Often through common experiences, such as loss. 

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Andy is a strong advocate of building awareness and skills regarding mental health. He believes that employees are an organisation's greatest asset. As such, in our complex world, our talented staff can start to struggle. This is a problem for both employee well-being and company effectiveness. The impact is often made worse through avoidance of discussing mental health. Ultimately, it can be late in the day before it becomes clear that someone is unwell, leading to lengthy sign-off which can cause further stress for all.

 

Growth in Mind offers training to support the development of mental health knowledge within organisations. This means that employees are more able to discuss challenges and help others get support sooner. Research shows that mental and physical well-being is key to good overall health and ability to perform daily activities including work.

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Andy's training ethos is one of growing knowledge and awareness; learning about resilience, developing re-useable skills, connecting with others' experiences and fostering curiosity.

 

Andy is an accredited Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England Trainer. MHFA is a licensed provider of Mental First Aid Instructor Training, accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health. He is a Connect 5 qualified Trainer. This course was developed for the Royal Society for Public Health. Andy develops bespoke training and creates micro-teach sessions including Lunch and Learn Open Courses.

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As well as delivering Open Courses, Growth in Mind develops In-House training for organisations and has access to an extended trainer network in order to upscale delivery.