A NATIONAL charity has welcomed a unique North-East initiative which will allow small and medium sized firms to share the mental health expertise of larger companies.

The idea of Darlington Borough Council leader Bill Dixon, who spent 25 years as a child psychiatric social worker, it should mean smaller companies are better equipped to deal with workplace mental health crises.

Bosses wanting to tap into the human resources expertise of big firms will be able to do so for the first time via the website of partnership organisation Darlington Cares.

Basic information about dealing with mental health problems will be available but smaller companies in the town will be able to gain access to a password-controlled part of the website, allowing them to link up with HR experts at larger firms.

It is hoped this ‘buddying’ approach will be mutually beneficial.

National mental health charity Mind recently published a survey showing staff are experiencing high levels of stress.

Over half of those surveyed (56 per cent) said they found work very or fairly stressful. The survey of more than 1,250 people also found mental health problems at work is still a taboo subject - with nearly a third saying they couldn’t talk openly with their line manager.

Larger companies which have expressed an interest in the ‘buddying’ scheme include mobile phone company EE, sub-sea specialists DeepOcean, Whessoe Engineering, Darlington College and Teesside University.

Charlotte Nichols, managing director of public relations company Harvey and Hugo, said: “It just seems such an amazing idea that we can have access to some of the resources that bigger companies have.”

Cllr Dixon said: “We can’t find any record of anywhere doing anything like this.”

He added that the idea is in response to growing concerns over mental health issues at work voiced at Darlington Partnership meetings.

“The big companies have been absolute stars in stepping up to the mark as far as I am concerned.

“It means the little company can go to the big company and get advice and assistance on what to do with an employee who has a breakdown.

“To buy that advice from a commercial company would cost a fortune. They are now setting up a secure website and we are looking to roll it out."

Claire Bennett, a spokeswoman for Mind, said the Darlington buddying scheme “sounds quite unique.”

“If it is really successful you could roll this out more widely. It sounds really interesting.”