7 June 2024
Charity expands partnership with SilverCloud® by Amwell® to include clinician-guided digital mental health support.
Retail industry charity the Retail Trust has expanded its partnership with digital mental health platform SilverCloud® by Amwell® to include both counsellor-led and self-guided support.
The charity works with over 200 retailers, including WHSmith, bp and Lakeland, to improve staff wellbeing, and their employees were given access to SilverCloud’s self-guided programmes of tools, content and activities at the end of last year.
The expanded SilverCloud partnership means retail workers can also receive coaching from a trained counsellor who will provide further support, motivation and encouragement throughout the digital behavioural health programme.
SilverCloud can be accessed any time via the Retail Trust’s website to provide internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) programmes for stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. The platform can also measure mental health risks and improvements.
It forms part of an extensive package of wellbeing support from the Retail Trust for the retailers it works with, with other support including a virtual GP service, financial aid and wellbeing training for staff.
The Retail Trust’s new happiness dashboard also uses generative AI to provide employers with an overall picture of staff mental health, benchmarked against industry standards, with actionable insights to address specific issues.
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said: “Our partnership with SilverCloud is giving retail workers across the country access to important new tools and guidance that will help them take control of their wellbeing.
“People working in retail continue to face huge uncertainty around everything from rising levels of retail crime to the high cost of living, so it’s important we provide access to vital services like this that will protect and strengthen their mental health.”
The Retail Trust’s 2023 health of retail report found 80% of retail workers had experienced a decline in their mental wellbeing last year and a fifth (19%) were struggling to meet their monthly outgoings due to rising prices.
Half of retail managers also reported an increase in staff absences due to mental health issues.
Derek Richards, head of research for SilverCloud, said: “Long hours, frequent schedule changes, challenging customer interactions and lower pay in an economy where the cost of living continues to climb are taking a toll on the mental health of the retail workforce. We’re proud to partner with the Retail Trust, which has a long history of supporting this critical segment of the workforce, to provide digital therapy tools to help ease the mental health challenges retail workers are facing and enhance their overall wellbeing.”