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Recently I reviewed evaluation data from 30 Mental Health First Aid cohorts delivered within an NHS Trust. The results were striking. Confidence increased significantly across participants, and the written reflections pointed to a clear shift: people felt able to start conversations they would previously have avoided.

That insight stayed with me.

It made me curious about whether the same pattern appeared elsewhere.

Over the past few years I’ve delivered MHFA training across organisations in healthcare, local government, energy, telecommunications, insurance, higher education and the third sector. So I went back through the wider evaluation data.

Across more than 80 cohorts and 750+ learners, I wanted to see whether the same confidence shift appeared beyond NHS settings.

Why mental health awareness doesn’t always lead to conversations

In many workplaces today there is a strong awareness that mental health matters. Campaigns, policies and wellbeing initiatives have helped raise understanding across organisations.

But awareness alone doesn’t always translate into action.

Many people recognise when a colleague may be struggling, yet hesitate to start a conversation. The most common concern I hear from participants at the start of a course is simple:

“What if I say the wrong thing?”

That hesitation is understandable. Conversations about mental health can feel uncertain, personal and difficult to navigate.

What happened when I looked beyond the NHS data

When I reviewed evaluation scores across all the courses I’ve delivered, a clear pattern appeared.

Across 80+ cohorts and 750+ learners:

• Confidence increased from 5.15 to 8.52
• Knowledge increased from 5.16 to 8.73
• Trainer rating averaged 9.64 / 10
• Recommendation likelihood averaged 9.4 / 10

The knowledge shift is expected in structured training. When people attend a course they learn new information.

What interested me more was the confidence shift.

The pattern that appeared across 80+ cohorts

Across sectors and organisations, participants frequently arrived unsure about how to approach mental health conversations.

By the end of the course that language often changed. Learners described feeling more able to begin conversations rather than avoid them.

In other words, the shift was not just about understanding mental health better.

It was about feeling able to act.

Why confidence changes behaviour more than knowledge

In workplace settings this difference matters.

Knowledge increases awareness, but it does not necessarily change behaviour. Confidence, on the other hand, often determines whether someone actually starts a conversation.

When people feel uncertain about how to respond, they may step back even when they care deeply about a colleague’s wellbeing.

When that hesitation softens, conversations begin.

And when conversations begin, support becomes visible within teams.

What helps people feel able to start the conversation

Looking across both the quantitative scores and the written feedback from learners, three conditions appear consistently:

Psychologically safe learning environments
People need space to explore sensitive subjects without feeling judged or pressured.

Practical frameworks that guide conversations
Structure helps reduce uncertainty when approaching difficult situations.

Opportunities to practise real scenarios
Confidence grows when people have the chance to rehearse conversations rather than just hear about them.

Together these elements appear to make the learning more usable in everyday workplace situations.

What this means for workplaces

Mental health awareness remains an important starting point. But awareness alone does not always translate into supportive conversations.

Workplaces that want to strengthen mental health support often focus on increasing knowledge. What this data suggests is that confidence may be the more important lever.

When people feel confident enough to start conversations, the culture of support within teams becomes more visible and accessible.

Closing reflection

Looking back across the data from multiple sectors, one theme stands out clearly.

The shift that matters most is not simply understanding mental health better. It is feeling confident enough to begin the conversation.

When that shift happens, awareness becomes action.

Invitation

If your organisation is exploring ways to strengthen confidence around mental health conversations, I’m always interested in continuing the discussion.