Recommendations

Our Valued Clients and Partners

Our Partners

Collaboration is a powerful business tool for companies, regardless of their size or industry. It typically refers to organisations working together to address problems and achieve goals that seem to be out of reach when working alone.

By combining the effort and expertise of different organisations, all partners in the network are better able to innovate and grow, and increase their competitiveness on many levels. Balancing Edges is pleased to work with many complimentary companies who share our values but are able to add additional knowledge and expertise to our customer offer

Our Clients

Since Balancing Edges started trading in 2019 we have worked with many clients on a variety of Mental Health projects all over the United Kingdom.

These have varied from Blue Chip companies such as Baxter Storey, through organisations like HBAA and EventWell, to interested individuals on our open courses. A cross section of these clients is shown below and we would be delighted to offer introductions by way of testimonials to validate the work carried out.

Training Feedback

Feedback from our training sessions

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable course. Although the topics were sometimes graphic in discussion nevertheless I felt that in the small group that we had everybody felt comfortable to discuss their views and swap opinions. Gavin’s delivery was passionate, informative and captivating. I will be watching my staff now differently bearing all that I have learnt today in mind.”

“I think Gavin is an absolute gem, an instructor of the highest quality. He can break down sensitive, dense, confusing topics with ease and manages to do it in a personable, relatable way. I would recommend him as an instructor to anyone, and I
Will.”

“Gavin is an exceptional instructor. Easy to listen to and makes the course relatable and understandable. You are not made to feel silly if you do not understand and in the event that there is uncertainty, Gavin will happily go back over the material to ensure a thorough coverage. The sessions were perfectly formed, and the group activities gave us the chance to explore other people’s thoughts and knowledge which is invaluable. I would highly recommend the course to anyone and plan to take this information back to my team and to help develop them.”

“Gavin is a brilliant instructor, he took his time to explain everything to us. Any questions we had were answered in full until we were confident in the answer. In my line of work I deal with a lot of MH situations, I was quite confident going in that I knew quite a bit, this course really showed I knew very little on the grand scheme of things, I have taken so much away from it and will highly recommend this course in the future, especially the excellent Gavin. Gavin – Thank you so much for taking the time to make us feel comfortable and giving us a safe and positive place to learn. 10/10 would recommend.”

“Gavin is a brilliant instructor, he took his time to explain everything to us. Any questions we had were answered in full until we were confident in the answer. In my line of work, I deal with a lot of MH situations, I was quite confident going in that I knew quite a bit, this course really showed I knew very little about the grand scheme of things, I have taken so much away from it and will highly recommend this course in the future, especially the excellent Gavin. Gavin – Thank you so much for taking the time to make us feel comfortable and giving us a safe and positive place to learn. 10/10 would recommend.”

I was apprehensive about the remote course as at times courses delivered this way are PowerPoint-based and not interactive and quite hard to interact and learn alongside. This course was interactive, enabled learning styles of all manners to interact, informative and all round was delivered in a positive way. Gavin was very knowledgeable and gave examples so these can be applied in real-world scenarios. The group work was delivered in a way that gave everyone a chance to interact. I can say that the course has enabled me to support mental health not just in the workplace but out in the community more effectively and has given me more of an understanding of Mental health approaches. It also enabled me to see that the practices we have in place are relevant and enable change and identification of further support. The course allowed me to look at my own mental health and how to manage stress within the work environment. Self-reflection is a great thing but there are times we forget to look after ourselves in it all. I would highly recommend the course, especially with Gavin as the facilitator as he has a professional manner but also gives a bit of himself which makes him more personable to the learners. This in itself allows others to see that they are not alone. Gavin allowed time for questions and also time for thought and did not rush an answer. The course structure was positive and allowed for further reading outside of the session.

Gavin was a brilliant instructor – very accommodating, friendly and thorough, and had a great calming voice and demeanour. He led a great informative course. I feel very confident that I can carry this knowledge into my personal, social and work life, and act on it where needed. I came into the course an advocate for Mental Health, and I’m leaving a promoter, backer, protector, informer, supporter, campaigner and upholder. Thanks so much 🙂

I had an insight from my own mental ill health, but being on this course has given me the seed to give and know more, the resources I have been given from the course mean a whole lot more study for me, as I have also applied to be a mental health ally. Gavin’s instruction was superb as I have never really been a person who would engage with things like role play, but the calm manner of his instruction on this course found me getting involved and actually enjoying the varying aspects of the subject matter. In the beginning, before the course, I nearly pulled out, but I’m so glad I didn’t because Gavin’s instructional style and content of this course have made me look forward to the future where mental health / ill health can become a normal conversation in everyday life. Thank you 🙂

“Thank you for the training course, and wanted to advise you of all the wonderful things that were happening in our company in terms of MH information and support. And, yes, that is happening with the full support of the management which is wonderful. However…

I did the training course on 5th/6th May and added an MHFA logo to my email signature. Then, last Sunday (15th May) I woke to this from a friend and colleague…”

It was a text from a colleague explaining that her nephew had been involved in an extremely traumatic event and that she would be grateful for a call to discuss her feelings.

“If it wasn’t for the MHFA training

She wouldn’t have known to call me and

I wouldn’t have had a clue how to respond and what to say.

Now, I’m not saying I got everything perfect, and the phone isn’t ideal, but that was the only option due to the distance.

However, was there and could help. There will no doubt be much more to do to support the longer-term trauma of all this, but I just wanted to say thank you so much for the training. It’s made a huge difference to me, my colleague has told me it really helped her, and it’s been huge for the business to have a member of staff they trained able to help.

If it’s of use, feel free to reference this in promoting or when doing the training. My colleague has given full approval for this. It’s not what expected when I came on the course but I felt more prepared for it nonetheless so thank you again”.

This was an excellent 4 hours spent together. I thought I was pretty savvy with mental health awareness, I’m passionate about it and I have helped friends and family members in the past.

The session today helped me understand more depth and also that I need to make more time for myself!!!!.

Thanks for a great course. Gavin was excellent and very informative. Thanks for the opportunity.

Gavin is obviously a consummate professional and very adept at managing tight timings, keeping us on track and bringing out the best responses from a diverse group. Gavin’s use of voice, pace, tone and body language was excellent, heightening the weight of training points. The professionalism and understanding shown was, again excellent and I found the quality of the training presented to be excellent. Overall, one of the best training courses I have been on.

Completing this refresher course will be rather beneficial not only to myself but to the company as a whole. I appreciate that a lot of these types of courses do take place online nowadays and to be honest I was a little bit sceptical about it beforehand, but it worked just as well, if not better than in person. I’ve done a few online courses over the past two years, and I’ve often found them difficult to interact with due to the high number of people taking part and unengaging course leaders who are heavily reliant on slides. I found this course to be a nice change from that, there was a good number of participants on the call, and I thought Gavin had a good knack of getting everyone involved in the conversation.

Gavin is a very credible and interesting guy with just the right balance of new and past experience to keep the course interesting and active. I could see he had a real passion for the related topics and how important the MHFA is. This really shone through!

I also found his openness to his own real backstories extremely relevant to the course content. I thought this was particularly skilful in that he knew when to stop or move on when balancing the course content and time available.

Gavin was very knowledgeable about the subject and also made the sessions really interesting and was able to pass on his knowledge in an engaging manner – it’s not the easiest subject to teach but Gavin was fantastic! And he also made sure we did our reading on time, completed all activities, and that we know that there was no such thing as a stupid question during the course. Fantastic teacher, would 100% recommend his courses.

This course was the best course I’ve been on in a long while. Different areas of Mental Health were covered in detail and this has certainly helped me with my own mental health wellbeing and I now have a better knowledge of mental health. Before the course, I never thought I would have the confidence to be a MHFA but now I’m looking forward to using the skills I have learnt over the last four days. Gavin was a great tutor; not once did it feel like he was reading to us from a handout, and he is so natural in delivering this course. The activities were explained in depth and everyone was involved. All my questions were answered in full, and Gavin emailed lots of links that will help me in the future. The workbook is such an excellent resource to reflect on. Thank you so much for this course!!!

Online training feedback

Really well delivered online in the current circumstances, it was interactive which helped you to interact not only with the tutor but with other attendees which really helped – the break out rooms worked really well.
I thought it was brilliant. I learned a lot and thought the structure was great. A lot of work had clearly gone in to adapting it for our current virtual requirements. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend everyone to do it!
Really insightful course, learned a lot in a relaxed Zoom environment.

Testimonials & Case Studies

What our customers said about us

Conference Buyer at EY

“Course was well presented particularly the delicate areas around suicide”

“Great course, great instructor – thank you for your knowledge.”

“Gavin was brilliant, very down to earth. He created a great group dynamic.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and it was very interactive with the people on the course”

“The course was informative and designed to update knowledge and skills in a way that refreshed from previous training but was refreshing in its delivery. Difficult topics dealt with carefully and mindfully and with humour and understanding . Gavin is a great teacher and makes learning feel like a continued conversation rather than being a classroom.”

“The course was very helpful in refreshing existing knowledge about mental health. I would say I wouldn’t have even minded a longer course as these topics are so valuable and it would have been great to talk more about our challenges in the area where we were using / hoping to use our skills – a good opportunity to learn from each other and with Gavin there was so much knowledge in the room! I really enjoyed the session, great team today!”

“Fantastic facilitator, was able to put us at ease, talk very easily and knowledgeably about the subject. Built a great rapport with us all which is difficult on Teams, but this was very easily done by Gavin.”

“I really enjoyed the course and felt that the trainer delivered the information extremely well. I was ready for the refresher and it has helped me feel more able to help again and also feel like it has helped give me the ability to build my own resilience.”

“The course was extremely useful, some elements were very intense but I felt that this helped to gain a better insight into how to recognise, and be able to support anyone who may be experiencing mental health issues.”

“Gavin was very well presented in his delivery and kept all conversations relevant. All content is to a high standard. Gavin also endeavors on sharing his passion on mental health first aid.”

“I took the MHFA course in 2020 and learnt so much, I found that this refresher course was really valuable in updating me on the current situation, statistics and learnings on mental health support.”

“The course was excellent for building our confidence and updating on any changes that have happened over the last 3 years since we previously had qualified.”

“A good blend of information download, reviewing and updating knowledge and interaction with tutor and colleagues.”

“Beneficial overall and enhanced my knowledge and skillsets which I will apply at work and outside where possible. I will also be at work sharing the knowledge gained with my fellow colleagues at work”

“Excellent. Would recommend the course and Gavin the trainer to anyone needing to complete the refresher training.”

“I thought the course covered the subjects that were required and were delivered very well.”

“Really good content, very much enjoyed the video’s and it was really good to have a refresher.”

“The course was well organised and delivered. I enjoyed the interactive sessions including the breakout rooms to share experience with others. The instructor, Gavin is very knowledgeable and shared his expertise to support learning.”

” I really enjoyed the course and it met the objectives. Thank you”

” This refresher training has really helped regain my understanding of the key points of our initial training and refreshed my knowledge and confidence overall in supporting my colleagues.”