Case study
Barnardo’s
Our ongoing work with Barnardo's began in 2017.

What we did
Top down approach
We developed and delivered training from the CEO, to Senior Leaders and mananagers across the business.
Face to face courses
Comprehensive training programs reflecting regional (across the UK) and team differences (Support Services and Retail).
Mental health first aiders
We trained mental health first aiders from various departments to provide initial support to staff and champion wellbeing at work.
Online learning
We created bespoke pre and post-course resources and online programmes to reach as many people as possible.


Barnardo's has 5,000 paid employees and over 19,000 volunteers spread across a variety of teams and services, all with their own policies and procedures.
Senior leaders wanted to ensure that they support staff just as well as they support service users.
We created and delivered comprehensive face to face training and online programs, reflecting regional (across the UK) and team differences (Support Services and Retail).
We developed a 'whole organisation approach' starting with tailored training session for Directors and Senior leaders.
We identified that many staff, children's services, for example, needed additional support and we tailored our courses to include vicarious/secondary trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout.
We trained Mental Health First Aiders and developed an ongoing programme of support for them.

We created bespoke pre and post-course resources specific to each role (managers or frontline employees). Resource include those available within Barnardo's, such as policies, EAP and Wellness Actions Plans.

On top of all this, we are also delivering online Mental Health Awareness Training to 24,000 staff and volunteers over the next 3 years.

Did we make a difference?
Staff trained
We rolled out bespoke face to face mental health awareness training to 2500 staff. Courses were tailored according to role (manager's etc) and service (retail or children services).
Online courses
Our online programme will be rolled out to 24,000 staff and over the next three years. We developed a 'Trauma' module due to the nature of their work.
Understanding is up!
As a direct result of our training, self-reported knowledge, understanding and personal confidence around mental health rose from an average score of 6 to 9 out of 10.
What the client said
"Oakwood's approach is highly professional and bespoke. The training I attended with them, along with the top 25 senior leaders at Barnardo's was one of the most profound learning experiences I have had in a while. High quality, fast paced, deep, challenging, thought provoking and humorous. Brilliant!"

Javed Khan
CEO, Barnardo's
"Oakwood delivered Mental Health and Wellbeing training days for managers at Barnardo's Scotland. They were extremely responsive to our requirements and adapted the training to meet the needs of our organisation. Oakwood have an evident enthusiasm and passion for mental health and wellbeing and a willingness and ability to quickly adapt the training programme to suit the audience. I would happily recommend Oakwood to other clients and in fact have done so to internal colleagues who have also gone on to use them for training."
