Mental Health Workshops in London

Who These Workshops Are For

This page is for people who want to book a workshop, not read about wellbeing in general. Typically that is an HR director, a head of wellbeing, a head of learning and development or an operations lead. The brief tends to sound the same: managers can see that someone is struggling, and they say nothing because they are afraid of making it worse.

The workshops are for the people who hold those conversations. That means line managers, team leads and senior leaders, and sometimes whole teams, because colleagues may notice first. Every programme is built for one organisation. We do not run open courses, and we do not issue certificates.

If you want the argument before the format, start with our article on the mental health conversation managers avoid. This page describes the workshop that turns that argument into practised behaviour.

Several of our pages touch the same ground. The table shows where each one fits, so the brief lands on the right programme.

What These Workshops Are Not

This needs saying plainly, before anything else. Sidestream does not provide clinical services. Our mental health workshops are not therapy, counselling or diagnosis, and they are not a substitute for Mental Health First Aid, occupational health, an employee assistance programme or a qualified professional. The scenarios are fictional, so no participant is asked to bring or disclose their own mental health.

What the workshop does is narrower. Acas puts the manager's position well in its guidance on talking about mental health: you should not be expected to be an expert in mental health. A manager's job in these moments is to notice, open the door, listen, agree what happens next and point towards the right support. None of that is clinical. All of it is behaviour, and behaviour can be rehearsed.

Where your organisation already runs Mental Health First Aid or awareness training, the workshop works alongside it. Awareness tells people what to look for. The rehearsal is where they practise what to say.

Why the Conversation Matters to an Employer

Poor mental health is costly for employers. Deloitte's report Mental health and employers (May 2024) estimates that poor mental health across the UK workforce can cost employers around £51 billion a year. The figure combines mental health related absence, presenteeism and staff turnover. Presenteeism, attending work in spite of illness and so not performing at full ability, is the largest part, at around £24 billion.

HSE's Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain, 2025, published on 20 November 2025, count 964,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, and 22.1 million working days lost. Among the main work factors respondents cited were workload pressures and a lack of managerial support. The cause data is older, an average over 2009/10 to 2011/12, which our note on HSE's stress cause data sets out. Managerial support is the part a workshop can reach.

HSE's Management Standards make the same point from the side of work design. One of their six areas is support, which includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues. HSE also publishes Stress Talking Toolkits, designed to help managers talk with workers as part of preventing and managing work-related stress.

The advice on timing is direct. HSE's advice for managers on mental ill health says: as soon as you notice that an employee is having difficulties, talk to them, because early action can prevent them becoming more unwell. Acas says that if you believe a worker has poor mental health, you should arrange a conversation as soon as possible. The guidance is clear. Doing it is the hard part.

Awareness Is Not the Same as the Conversation

The behaviour-change model we work from is COM-B, set out by Michie, van Stralen and West in Implementation Science (2011), in which capability, opportunity and motivation interact to generate behaviour. Capability covers both knowledge and skill. Awareness training mainly addresses knowledge: the signs, the language, where support sits. Holding the conversation under emotional pressure is the skill half.

One study points to that gap, with caveats. Schwarz and colleagues (2019), writing in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, followed managers for twelve months after a single-day training on mental health at work. Knowledge about mental illness improved and held. Social distance, how comfortable people say they are interacting with someone with a mental health problem, did not change significantly, although scores were already low at baseline.

The design had no control group, and the authors say further research is needed. They also suggest that such training could be improved by adding more emotionally focused parts that enhance the individual involvement. Rehearsal with an actor is one way to add such a part.

In a randomised 2020 UCL study by co-founder Ben Laumann (n = 57), rehearsal with a role-play coach produced significantly better feedback delivery than an instructional slideshow or video. Two independent assessors rated it blind. The effect sizes were Cohen's d = 0.75 against the slideshow and d = 1.08 against the video. The rehearsal condition was a short online coaching session, not our programme, and the study tested feedback, not a mental health conversation. It is unpublished. Details and limits are on our research page.

The same study found no relationship between participants' confidence and their blind-rated performance. Self-rated confidence rose after every format, with no significant difference between them, even though blind-rated behaviour did differ significantly. That is why we do not use confidence as the measure.

Stigma Shows Up as Behaviour

Stigma is usually discussed as an attitude. In a team it shows up as behaviour. Think of the joke that lands on someone who is struggling, or the quick change of subject. Or the colleague who quietly stops being given the difficult work, or the assumption that someone off sick will not come back. Those are moments a team can rehearse responding to.

Language is part of it. Acas advises managers to be sensitive in the terms they use, and gives an example: instead of saying 'suffering from mental health issues', say 'someone who has concerns related to their mental health'. A typical design builds that kind of moment into a scenario, so a team practises noticing and correcting it rather than only agreeing with it.

Sidestream has documented stigma work on a larger scale. The Death of Jane Doe, recognised at the CorpComms Awards, addresses mental health stigma in frontline work. With Met Police Lewisham and the Innocence Project, it was staged as an immersive crime-scene narrative for police officers and frontline staff who encounter people in mental health crisis. It was built around a fictional victim with schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder, and the roles were scripted with clinical advisors.

It is a documented production, not a company workshop, and it is not what a workshop for your managers looks like. The production looked at how stigma and snap judgements distort frontline interventions. A workshop rehearses the one-to-one conversation instead. More on the production is on our immersive events page.

The Method: Professional Actors and Your Own Scenarios

Sidestream is a behaviour change consultancy based at 58 Malden Road, London NW5 3HG. Most of this work is delivered in-house at client offices across London. The other seat in every scenario is a professional actor, not a colleague reading a brief.

A short diagnostic first establishes where the conversations go wrong: which managers, which moments, which teams. The actor is then briefed on a fictional colleague whose situation fits that organisation. They respond the way that person plausibly would: deflecting, going quiet, saying "I'm fine", becoming upset.

Scenarios are written around the conversation, not around a diagnosis. That follows HSE's advice that managers should concentrate on making reasonable adjustments at work, rather than understanding the diagnosis. The actor plays a person, not a condition.

Each attempt is stopped, coached and run again. Feedback comes from the actor in role, from the facilitator and from peers. The actor can say when they felt invited in and when they felt managed, which a real colleague may never say. This is role-play training with professional actors, applied to the mental health conversation.

The Conversations We Rehearse

The five conversations below are the core of the format. The diagnostic decides which ones a programme rehearses, and in what depth. Each is written into a scenario and run more than once.

Opening the conversation

The first step is the opening itself. HSE advises managers with specific concerns to talk about these at an early stage and to ask questions in an open, exploratory and non-judgemental way. Acas adds practical conditions: talk in private, and be flexible about when and where.

A typical design has the actor play a colleague whose work has slipped and who answers every question with "I'm fine". The manager practises naming what they have noticed, specifically and without labels. They also practise leaving the door open when the answer is no, because Acas advises letting people know they can talk about their mental health at any time.

Listening without fixing

Once someone starts talking, the instinct is to solve. Acas advises managers to listen carefully to what they say, to keep questions open ended and to give the person as much time as they need. It also says a manager could agree to take time to think before making any decisions.

A typical design has the actor give a long, uncertain answer with a silence in the middle. The manager practises staying with the silence, reflecting back what they heard and not jumping to a plan.

Holding the boundary

A manager is not a therapist, and the conversation goes wrong when either side forgets that. Acas advises reassuring the person that you will not share what they tell you without their permission, unless there's a good reason to, and being clear about who you would share it with and why.

A typical design has the actor ask the manager to keep something to themselves that the manager cannot keep, or pull the manager into the role of counsellor. The manager practises being honest about what they can and cannot do. Acas also reminds managers that supporting others can be a challenge and that they should look after their own wellbeing.

Signposting to the right support

Signposting only works if the manager can name the route. Acas lists an employee assistance programme, occupational health and the person's GP among the places to encourage someone to go, and says plainly: If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. HSE adds that if the person does not want to speak to their manager, the manager can suggest someone else.

A typical design has the manager practise naming the organisation's own support routes, concretely and without pressure. The workshop does not teach crisis intervention. That belongs to Mental Health First Aid, occupational health and clinical professionals.

The return after absence

The return after absence needs preparing too. HSE warns that if an employee goes off sick, lack of contact or involvement from their manager may mean they feel isolated, forgotten or unable to return. It advises discussing the return and reintegration beforehand, and notes that a written plan can help.

A typical design rehearses two moments: the keep-in-touch call during absence, and the first meeting back. The manager practises agreeing what happens in the first weeks and asking about reasonable adjustments. Acas notes that if a worker's mental health problem is a disability, or could reasonably be believed to be one, the employer must make reasonable adjustments.

How an Engagement Runs

The sequence is the same for every brief. What changes is the length of delivery and the number of cohorts.

1. First call. A free 30-minute call with a founder about the conversations managers avoid and the teams involved.
2. Diagnostic, one to three weeks. Interviews, focus groups and a behavioural diagnostic establish where the conversations break down.
3. Design, weeks four to seven. Scenarios are written from the organisation's own context and support routes, and the actors are briefed on them.
4. Delivery. From a half-day workshop to two or three days, or a multi-session programme over weeks or months.
5. Embedding, six to eight weeks. Manager toolkits and 15-minute weekly check-ins protect the new behaviour after delivery.
6. Measurement. Observed behaviour is re-read three to six weeks after delivery and again at around 90 days.

A typical engagement runs 12 to 16 weeks from the first call to the follow-up measurement, depending on format. Work is priced per engagement, because the effort sits in the scenario design. The six phases are described in full on our client journey page.

Group sizes follow the rehearsal. A single team trains as a group of 8 to 12; cohorts of several teams from one organisation are 12 to 25. Everyone needs a turn in front of the actor, which is why cohorts stay at that size.

How the Result Is Measured

Measurement sits at Kirkpatrick Level 3, meaning observed behaviour back at work, rather than at Level 1 satisfaction. A feedback form tells you whether people found the session useful. It does not tell you whether the next check-in with a struggling colleague went differently. Download our four-level measurement framework (PDF), with a worksheet for your own programme.

Before delivery we agree a small number of behavioural indicators with the client. They are re-read three to six weeks after delivery and again at around 90 days. Typical indicators include:

• How long it takes, after a manager first notices a change, before a deliberate first conversation happens.
• Whether return-to-work conversations take place before the return, with an agreed plan.
• Whether managers can name the organisation's actual support routes in follow-up check-ins.
• How team members describe check-ins with their manager, collected in short structured check-ins.

The indicators describe what managers do, not anyone's health. Background is in the Kirkpatrick model explained.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens in a mental health workshop for managers?

It is rehearsal rather than a presentation. A professional actor plays a colleague who may be struggling, and managers hold the conversation live: opening it, listening, agreeing next steps and signposting to support. Each attempt is stopped, coached and run again. Programmes are delivered in-house at client offices across London, for one organisation at a time.

Is this therapy, counselling or Mental Health First Aid?

No. Sidestream does not provide clinical services. The workshops are not therapy, counselling or diagnosis, and they do not replace Mental Health First Aid, occupational health, an employee assistance programme or a qualified professional. They rehearse the everyday conversation a manager or colleague has to hold, and they work alongside Mental Health First Aid or awareness training.

Do you run open mental health courses or issue certificates?

No. Every programme is built for one organisation, with scenarios drawn from that organisation's own context and support routes. We do not run open or public courses, and we do not issue certificates. The first step is a free 30-minute call about the managers involved and the conversations they avoid.

How long does it take, and how big are the groups?

Delivery runs from a half-day workshop to two or three days, or a multi-session programme over weeks or months. A typical engagement runs 12 to 16 weeks from the first call to the follow-up measurement, depending on format. A single team trains as a group of 8 to 12; cohorts of several teams from one organisation are 12 to 25.

Is The Death of Jane Doe a mental health workshop?

No. The Death of Jane Doe, recognised at the CorpComms Awards, is an immersive theatre production that addresses mental health stigma in frontline work. It was made with Met Police Lewisham and the Innocence Project for police officers and frontline staff who encounter people in mental health crisis. It is a documented production, not a company workshop; a workshop for your managers rehearses the one-to-one conversation instead.

Is there evidence that rehearsal works better than a slideshow?

In a randomised 2020 UCL study by co-founder Ben Laumann (n = 57), rehearsal with a role-play coach produced significantly better feedback delivery than an instructional slideshow or video. Two independent assessors rated it blind. The rehearsal condition was a short online coaching session, not our programme, and the study tested feedback rather than a mental health conversation. It is unpublished; what it shows and what it does not is set out on our research page.

How do you measure whether the workshop worked?

Measurement sits at Kirkpatrick Level 3, meaning observed behaviour at work rather than satisfaction scores. Before delivery we agree a small number of behavioural indicators with the client, such as whether return-to-work conversations happen before the return. They are re-read three to six weeks after delivery and again at around 90 days. The indicators describe what managers do, not anyone's health.

Where in London do you deliver, and how is it priced?

Most programmes are delivered in-house at client offices across London. Sidestream is based at 58 Malden Road, London NW5 3HG, and works from London, Milan and Berlin. Work is priced per engagement, because the effort sits in the scenario design and the actor briefing rather than in the delivery day.