The Association of British Insurers’ new online mental health training platform will ensure customers who disclose a mental health condition are treated consistently across the industry, according to director of policy for long-term savings and protection, Yvonne Braun.
This morning the ABI revealed it had collaborated with employee and wellbeing specialist Rightstep to launch the platform aimed at helping advisers and frontline staff better engage with customers who disclose mental health conditions.
The platform comprises three courses with the first offering a background on mental health, enabling advisers and frontline staff at insurers understand some of the most common mental health conditions and recognise the possible signs and symptoms. It also shows how advisers and frontline staff can support a customer who discloses they have a mental health condition, and act as advocates for mental health support in their own workplace.
The second offers training on effective communication with those who have a mental health condition, particularly during emotionally challenging or difficult conversations.
The final course covers individual vulnerability and crisis management, and upon completion advisers and frontline staff should be able to understand what a mental health crisis is and recognise the signs and symptoms of this. Participants also learn useful skills and responses to support customers experiencing a mental health crisis, both face-to-face and over the telephone.
The ABI has committed to training 5,000 advisers and frontline staff through the platform by the end of the year.
Commenting on the initiative, Yvonne Braun, director of policy for long-term savings and protection at the ABI, told Health & Protection that mental health has been a key priority for the ABI and its members for some time.
“Over the last few years, we have worked with mental health campaigners to identify the challenges customers can face when accessing insurance, and how they can be overcome in practice.
“The areas that came under the most scrutiny were the screening process, the use of outdated evidence, barriers to disclosure and clarity of communications.
“Last year, we developed the industry mental health and insurance standards for health, protection and travel insurers with our members. These standards seek to improve accessibility and provide support for customers throughout their application, particularly through increasing transparency around decision-making and the types of evidence used. The training we have launched today is the next stage in our work on mental health.”
Braun added that she hopes the training will provide an industry benchmark for improving the level of understanding of mental health and support when engaging with customers who disclose they have a mental health condition.
“The training aims to equip advisers and front-line staff with the skills they need to interact with customers who disclose a mental health condition in a clear, empathetic way, and to help combat unconscious bias around mental health, and improve advisers’ interactions with customers as a result…
“The UK is facing a mental health crisis which the challenges of Covid and lockdown have only exacerbated. It’s crucial that insurers and financial services firms across the board recognise how important it is for their staff to be aware of the mental health challenges facing customers and that they are as well-equipped as possible to provide excellent and empathetic service…
“We are committed to training 5,000 advisers and frontline staff by the end of the year, and hope all firms will encourage their staff to take the training.
“We want this training to help ensure that customers who disclose a mental health condition are treated consistently across the industry and to enhance the skills of advisers and front-line staff to have conversations around mental health.
“The reception has been very positive. Many of our members are already involved and we expect more firms to take up the training now that it has officially launched.”
Rightsteps is part of the part of health and care social enterprise Turning Point Group. Julie Bass, Turning Point chief executive, said: “We know that one in four of us will experience mental health problems at some point in our lives and for many of us this will be triggered by a life event such as suffering a burglary, a house fire or a car accident or maybe becoming too ill to work. We are really pleased to be working with the ABI to provide mental health training to people working in customer facing roles across the insurance sector. Developed by Rightsteps’ team of psychologists, the e-learning materials will help staff improve their understanding of mental health issues and communicate better with their customers who may be struggling.”
Sian Fisher, chief executive officer of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), added: “Mental ill-health is a major social and health related challenge, one which has had a particularly devastating effect on people over the last year due to the pandemic. The insurance market plays a vital role in supporting people, sometimes at the lowest point in their lives and so it’s important professionals are aware of their customers’ mental ill-health, as well as their own.
“I welcome the growing recognition of the importance of mental health support. Specifically, in light of the ABI’s Mental Health Standards, as well as our own revised guidance for our members. The ABI and Rightsteps’ new training signifies a vital addition to our united work on mental health in insurance and highlights the effects it can have on consumers and staff alike. I am delighted to be able to support its launch and to announce our accreditation of the training, ensuring everyone has at least some access to the skills and knowledge they need to understand mental ill-health.”
Last September, the ABI launched the Mental Health and Insurance Standards to provide better support for customers with mental health conditions when applying for health, travel or protection insurance, and the ABI also created a customer-facing insurance and mental health guide with Mental Health UK as part of this. The standards also offer clear guidance to insurers on how to support those with prior or existing mental health conditions when they seek insurance cover. Insurers have until 31 December 2021 to implement these standards.