How a Mental Health Coach can Improve Employee Wellbeing

In today’s fast-paced work environment, stress and burnout are on the rise. As organisations strive to do more with less, the pressure is taking a toll, affecting performance, reducing engagement, and making it harder to retain talented employees.

Introducing a mental health coach or stress management coach into the workplace can make a real difference. By offering tailored, one-to-one, proactive support, coaches help individuals manage pressure, build resilience, and maintain positive mental health. Embedding this kind of support into everyday working life not only boosts individual wellbeing but also strengthens teams and drives business performance.

What is a mental health coach?

Also known as a mental wellness coach, a mental health coach is a trained professional who works with individuals to enhance their mental wellbeing and support personal or professional growth. Unlike therapists, who often focus on past experiences or clinical diagnoses, mental health coaches focus more on present situations and future ambitions.

They work in partnership with clients to:

• Set and achieve clear, realistic wellness and personal development goals
• Build emotional resilience and manage everyday stress more effectively
• Develop positive mental habits that support long-term wellbeing
• Increase confidence and self-awareness
• Improve communication and strengthen interpersonal skills

What is the difference between a mental health coach and counselling?

Understanding the difference between coaching and counselling is essential to ensuring individuals receive the right support. 

Counselling and therapy are reflective in nature, often focused on exploring the past to understand and heal psychological and emotional distress, such as adverse life experience and trauma. This work is invaluable when helping someone to process unresolved experiences to help them move forward. Therapy also works on identifying negative thought patterns that leads towards positive behaviour change. 

Coaching, by contrast, is future-focused and goal-driven. It starts with where the client is now and supports them in moving forward, whether that’s navigating workplace change, building confidence, or developing leadership skills. Coaching aims at progress, accountability, and tangible outcomes.

Mental health coaches don’t diagnose or treat mental health conditions. While emotional awareness plays a role in coaching, if an individual's emotional expression suggests a need for deeper reflection, a referral to therapy may be more appropriate.

Key differences include:

• Focus: Coaching emphasises future goals; therapy explores the past and present.
• Approach: Coaching is action-oriented; therapy is reflective and exploratory.
• Credentials: Coaches may have diverse backgrounds; therapists typically hold specific qualifications in psychology, counselling and other related mental health credentials.

Benefits of Mental Coaching in the Workplace

A recent study by the Institute of Employment Studies evaluating the impact of an employee wellbeing coaching programme found that, following coaching, participants experienced:

Investing in mental health coaching makes a real difference at individual and organisational levels. By providing personalised support, employees learn practical ways to manage everyday stress, helping them feel more confident, focused, and productive. Coaching also helps people find a better balance between work and life, which means less time off and fewer people leaving the organisation. When challenges are tackled early, mental health coaching creates a stronger, more engaged team and builds a positive, resilient culture that benefits everyone.

While one-to-one coaching may require a greater initial investment than group training, research shows it delivers significant long-term benefits. Individual employees gain greater ownership over themselves and their work, developing resilience and effective coping strategies.

For example, participants reported that coaching helped them shift from dwelling on stress to actively reframing challenges and identifying practical steps to ease anxiety. One shared, “I could have gone down the track of things getting worse, but I took the positive route and can now cope better with work stress.” Coaching also improved communication skills, enabling individuals to express their concerns clearly.

In terms of working patterns, coaching empowered employees to negotiate changes confidently, such as reduced hours, which led to improved wellbeing. It also helped individuals reconnect with their purpose, reminding them why their work matters.

At the team level, coaching fostered healthier relationships and collaboration. Employees learned to approach stressful situations with a fresh perspective, encouraging open dialogue and collective problem-solving. One participant noted that sharing vulnerabilities openly improved team meetings and created a stronger sense of support.

Coaching also boosted collaboration by giving individuals the confidence and structure to navigate team dynamics effectively. Renewed confidence helped participants consider different viewpoints and guide the team toward common goals.

From an organisational perspective, coaching helped staff find alternative ways to manage customer/client expectations and reduce stress, ultimately improving productivity. Better relationships within teams contributed directly to enhanced service quality.

Overall, these insights highlight how individual coaching not only supports personal wellbeing but also drives positive change across teams and organisations, making it a strategic investment in employee wellness.

Choosing the Right Mental Health Coach for Your Team

Selecting the right mental coach is an important step in supporting your team’s wellbeing and performance. The right match can make all the difference, helping employees feel valued, supported, and equipped to thrive.

Start by being clear on your organisation’s needs and objectives. Are you looking to help people manage change, build resilience, improve communication, or boost confidence? Knowing your priorities will help you find the best fit.

Next, look at a coach’s experience and specialisms. Coaches who have worked in similar industries or with similar challenges will better understand your team’s pressures and culture. Equally important is rapport, a good coach builds trust, creates a psychologically safe space for open conversations, and helps people feel heard.

To make sure it’s the right fit from the start, Altruist offers a free 30-minute chemistry session. This is a chance to meet your coach, ask questions, and see how well they connect with your team’s needs.

Meet the Altruist Coaches

Stephanie Charles – With a career spanning over 20 years in the learning and development sector, Stephanie is also a qualified psychotherapeutic counsellor accredited by The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. Stephanie brings warmth, insight, and a structured approach to coaching, helping individuals and teams build confidence, improve communication, and manage change effectively.

Rob Edwards – A highly experienced coach and facilitator, Rob focuses on supporting leadership teams, building resilience, and advancing men’s mental health. He has worked across various sectors, helping professionals develop self-awareness and strengthen interpersonal skills. His coaching style is supportive yet challenging, encouraging clients to think differently and achieve lasting results. Rob is a certified NeuroChange Practitioner and Neurodiversity Coach.

Katie Buckingham – Founder of Altruist and an experienced workplace wellbeing consultant, Katie specialises in creating practical, sustainable wellbeing strategies. Known for her authentically direct approach, she combines evidence-based methods with real-world experience to help organisations build positive and resilient cultures. Katie is currently completing her Level 7 Coaching and Mentoring course with the Institute of Leadership.

Implementing Mental Health Coaching Programmes

Rolling out a mental health coaching programme requires thoughtful planning and clear communication to ensure it sticks, and makes a real difference. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to get you started:

• Secure Senior Leadership Buy-In - Engage key stakeholders early and win their support. Leadership backing is vital for smooth implementation and embedding coaching as a priority across the organisation.
• Create a Clear Plan - Break down the rollout into manageable steps: assess your organisation’s specific needs, set clear goals, choose the right coaches, allocate resources, and map out logistics.
• Communicate Transparently - Help your team understand why the programme matters, what coaching involves, and how it will benefit them. Use multiple channels, emails, intranet posts and team meetings to spread the message.
• Ensure Accessibility - Make coaching available to all employees, not just office-based staff. Field workers or those in less traditional roles often miss out on wellbeing initiatives, so be intentional about reaching everyone.
• Break Down Barriers - Raise awareness and educate your team about mental health coaching/stress management coaching. Unlike therapy, coaching often carries less stigma, making it easier to engage people who might otherwise hesitate.
• Support Young Employees - Don’t overlook younger staff. They’ve faced steep declines in training opportunities, which can harm their career growth and wellbeing. Investing in their development now pays dividends for both them and your organisation.
• Commit and Adapt - The impact of coaching grows with continued engagement. Encourage multiple sessions and be ready to adapt the programme as you learn what works best for your team.

Measuring success and outcomes of coaching

Evaluating the success of a mental health coaching programme is crucial. It helps assess its effectiveness and returns on investment.

Set measurable goals and track progress regularly. Use employee feedback and performance metrics for insights.

Key indicators include:

• Participation rates in coaching
• Improved employee satisfaction.
• Reduced absenteeism rates.
• Reduced staff turnover rates.
• Enhanced productivity levels.

These metrics help determine the programme’s impact and areas for improvement.

How Altruist can help

Our team of expert mental health coaches bring together over 3,500 combined hours of coaching, each with accreditations from renowned organisations including the Association for Coaching, National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, and the Institute of Leadership.

We deliver personalised one-on-one coaching sessions, typically online, each lasting 60 minutes. Every coaching programme is tailored to meet the unique personal and professional development goals of the individual, ensuring focused and meaningful progress.

Discover how our mental health coaching can support your growth and wellbeing.