SWOT Analysis
The organization in which I previously worked is Mental Health First Aid, which focuses on the psychological well-being of people. I worked with young adults, and it determined the choice of methods to address their problems and adequately respond to their concerns. This organization is operated and managed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and the Missouri Department of Mental Health. Mental Health First Aid aims to inform people about the signs of various mental issues that young adults experience and guide them about appropriate reactions to their mental health challenges. Among the mental health concerns that this organization addresses are substance addictions, psychosis, depression, and anxiety. Problems with organizational structure and culture in American mental health facilities for young adults might cause trauma among their patients.
According to the SWOT analysis, Mental Health First Aid is an effective organization that manages to pursue its goals in practice. There are four categories in the SWOT analysis that the company’s work represents: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The results of the analysis show that Mental Health First Aid copes successfully with its work develops on the corporate level and tries to overcome existing weaknesses and threats. It is possible to present the data from the analysis in the following way:
- Mental Health First Aid’s strengths are the accessibility of information that allows people with mental health issues to find the necessary data quickly. Moreover, the information does not only provide people with descriptions of the common symptoms of the mental health problems, basic principles of self-care, and ways to cope with the crisis but also professional support. It is possible to attend the training program in person or participate in the video conference.
- The weakness of Mental Health First Aid as an organization is its entirely educational content and function, which makes it problematic for the person with a mental crisis to find motivation and enroll in the course.
- The lack of technological opportunities to save people with mental problems in critical situations is this organization’s main threat. In most cases, psychologists do not see their clients and do not have physical contact with them due to the online format of courses and sessions. It restricts the opportunities of psychologists when their clients have critical situations connected with their mental health state.
- At the same time, Mental Health First Aid provides adults with psychological issues with opportunities to cope with their problems, ask professionals for help, and develop self-care skills. These actions reduce the risks of suicides significantly and encourage individuals to establish a cautious attitude toward their mental health that is the company’s opportunity.
Step-by-step Recommendations
There are specific recommendations concerning starting effective organizational change and transforming the company. It is necessary to complete the following steps:
- define the transformation’s essence and connect it with the current business aims;
- understand who is affected by these changes and the particular effect;
- develop a communication strategy based on the expectations of the audience’s reaction;
- provide the employees with sufficient information and skills for transformation (Jeong & Shin, 2019);
- develop support system that helps the employees during the change
- evaluating the results that allow managers to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the given model.
Therefore, Mental Health First Aid should pay attention to the motivation of the employees, communicate with them, and their readiness to change to ensure the positive development of the organization.
Mental Health First Aid works with numerous psychologists that lead courses for professionals and for young adults who want to cope with mental health problems. The great number of people who work as one team requires good leadership and management to cope with the tasks effectively and to share the common principles in work (Teece, 2018). The organization Mental Health First Aid uses direct communication with clients to measure their satisfaction with services. As mentioned in this paper, there are two main formats of interaction in this organization: online video conferences and real-life training attendance. Therefore, there is direct communication between team members, managers, and healthcare professionals who work for this company. At the same time, there might be specific problems with these formats of direct communication because some people might feel anxious and insecure while giving immediate negative feedback about the organization. It is especially critical in a company that works with people with mental health problems and those who want to learn how to overcome psychological crisis. There is no need to say that these individuals might have difficulties articulating their negative feedback, which makes the opinion about Mental Health First Aid biased and not objective.
Mental Health First Aid proposes various training courses for people from different age groups, allowing clients to choose themselves based on their needs. It shows that the selection of the services is relatively autonomous in this organization. The company does not impose its services on the client, and there is no evident psychological pressure. At the same time, it might be challenging for clients who are not satisfied with the provided services to express their negative feedback because the manager is absent in this communication. It is possible to assume that vivid options for clients’ responses are necessary on the official website of the organization to make the process of interaction easier in case of negative feedback about the work of Mental Health First Aid.
Surveys and opinion mining are essential in the work of Mental Health First Aid, and they are typically part of the training course. All participants who enroll in the psychological training in this organization are regularly asked for their opinion in person. It is vital to understand that young adults with mental issues feel comfortable in the working environment and the psychological help they receive works for them effectively (Courtney, (2020). It allows us to state that Mental Health First Aid addresses the opinion of its clients regularly, and it helps the organization improve its performance and preserve the client-centered approach in its work.
All people who start using the services of Mental Health First Aid have to decide which training course corresponds to their needs best. There is a division of the classes for age groups because every age category has peculiar problems. Therefore, it is critical for psychologists to address the issues on a specific level that people in the group understand, to articulate their values, etc. Therefore, the desired outcomes of the clients who use Mental Health First Aid are comparatively evident for psychologists, and they are connected with coping with mental health issues. At the same time, psychology requires an individual approach, and therapy will not be effective without meeting the expectations of every particular client.
Mental Health First Aid uses a predominantly online training format, even though offline in-person courses are also available. Online courses show that this format is effective in clients’ psychological movement and improves the professional level of psychologists who work for this organization. The variety of techniques available on the Mental Health First Aid website shows that clients find the division of the applicants into age groups a practical solution that gives positive results. Moreover, the reactions to these courses that are also available online show that most clients are satisfied with the training Mental Health First Aid proposes.
Mental Health First Aid provides its clients with elaborated and structured courses that help people find the appropriate group that interacts with the problems they face. The pre-determined focus group allows training to discuss only those mental health issues that people of a particular age find challenging. At the same time, the organization provides its employees with multiple courses that help psychologists improve their qualifications. It is impossible to become a psychologist’s tutor without passing the company’s evaluation, which ensures that all people who work with clients are prepared for this work. In general, the corporate performance of Mental Health First Aid is effective, and the courses it provides to its clients and psychologists show practical results. Training allows the organization to improve the qualification of the psychologists who work for this company.
Therefore, Mental Health First Aid provides its customers with professional and client-oriented advice. It is possible to hypothesize that courses in Mental Health First Aid are prolific because they improve the organization’s performance and increase clients’ satisfaction with the services. All these details lead to the stable popularity of this organization among people who have to cope with mental health problems and are in a critical situation.
References
Courtney, F. (2020). Six steps to effective organizational change management. Pulse Learning. Web.
Teece, D. J. (2018). Dynamic capabilities as (workable) management systems theory. Journal of Management and Organization, 24(3), 359-368.