Trainmi digital mental health training programme
Tellmi has launched an inclusive and accessible fully-funded digital mental health training programme which is designed to boost confidence and provide new skills for those aged 16-34 facing barriers to education, employment or training. Trainmi is a 12-week virtual programme that replicates a professional working environment and trains young adults to become Tellmi SuperPeer® Trainees. Trainees learn to use their own lived experience of mental health challenges to support others. They receive ongoing supervision and build transferable skills that will enable them to obtain and maintain employment.
The unemployment crisis in your people has reached epidemic proportions. As of December 2024, 987,800 young people aged 16-24 were not in education, training or employment, accounting for 13.2% of the population group. This is an increase from 727,000 in March 2020. Between 2015 and 2024, there was an increase of 1.2m of young people aged 16-34 with a work-limiting health condition, with 530,000 of those being mental health-related (ONS, 2025).
Research by the Youth Futures Foundation, surveying 2,500 young adults, found that 62% believe that it has become more difficult to find a job and 44% say they lack the skills and training to enter the workforce. 31% say they have a mental health condition, and 85% believe that their condition affects their ability to either find work or to function in a professional environment (Youth Futures Foundation, 2024)
Trainmi was developed in response to research with Work Coaches and young people which identified a dearth of work experience opportunities, particularly for adults who are neurodivergent, struggling with their mental health or lacking the necessary qualifications. With grant funding from SBRI Healthcare, and in collaboration with Mima, a human-centred design agency, Tellmi conducted a series of co-creation workshops with Work Coaches in Oxfordshire Jobcentres to understand common experiences among jobseekers with mental health challenges, learn what existing support is already available and how Tellmi could design our service to be accessible and address unmet need.
Our research identified a dearth of work experience opportunities, particularly for adults who are neurodivergent, struggling with their mental health or lacking the necessary qualifications. We discovered that there was a need for on-the-job support that provides young adults with the opportunity to develop work-related skills, build resilience and increase their mental health self-management. In response to this finding, and through regular co-creation activity with an expert advisory group of unemployed young adults, we designed Trainmi.
Trainmi participants receive two one-hour training sessions to learn the skills required to be Tellmi SuperPeer® Volunteers, before completing three 45-minute scheduled shifts every week over the duration of the 12-week programme. Their role is to respond to posts from Tellmi users, providing support to the community and engaging in meaningful work. Research shows that the best way to improve your own mental health is to help someone else who is struggling so we expect that taking part in the Trainmi programme will help to improve self-esteem, resilience and confidence in participants. Participants receive ongoing personal supervision throughout the programme and graduate with a personalised reference designed to support them in their job search.
Before, during and after taking part in Trainmi, participants will have access to Hiremi - an extension to the Tellmi that provides young adults with evidence-based mental health support and the tools required to manage their wellbeing during their job search.
We will be recruiting young adults aged 16-34 in Oxfordshire for our next Trainmi cohort in December. To be the first to hear about the next Trainmi information sessions, contact Jodie@tellmi.help.
Find out more about How Hiremi Works.
To find out more and apply, visit our Trainmi page.
