Celebrating 40 years of providing advice on work and health issues

22nd May 2019

40 years ago, a group of people got together to discuss the health issues that we experienced by workers in Sheffield's coal and steel industries.

They were concerned that the noisy and dusty workplaces in the industries were affecting workers health. Out of that discussion Sheffield Occupational Health Advisory Service (SOHAS) was born to help workers whose health was being affected their work to stay in employment. 40 years on and our objective hasn't changed, but we have kept up with the changing needs of people who health issues make them vulnerable of losing their job. Our job retention services, funding by Sheffield City Council, Sheffield IAPT, Sheffield Carers Centre and National Lottery Awards for All, providing advice to 1600 people a year for people who live or work in Sheffield. We provide advice across a range of health and related issues, including mental health and physical health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression, stroke, cancer and musculoskeletal. SOHAS adviser are trained to provide and give practical advice to people who need help that they can use either at a personally level or take back to their employer. Feedback from people who have used the service -The SOHAS adviser was very helpful and supportive throughout and helped me through a difficult time, I don't feel I could have managed this without them -The adviser had a very good understanding of mental health conditions and they were very easy to talk to. They gave me a better understanding of some of the things my manager had told me. To get advice, visit our website http://www.sohas.co.uk/gp-surgeries-list to see whether there is an adviser in your surgery, go to your GP and ask to be referred to a SOHAS adviser or ring us on 2755760 to make an appointment at our confidential meeting room at our office at Exchange Brewery on Bridge Street. We now provide services to employers; If you have an employee who is struggling to return to work after a period of sickness absence, we can provide an occupational health report that will provide help and guidance on underlying issues and some practical solution to get them back to work and keep them in their job. Visit our website, www.sohas.co.uk/work-sohas-present-and-past for more details We are also part of the Be Well @ Work Award; the South Yorkshire Workplace Health Award that helps businesses to work towards to build god practice in the workplace health and wellbeing with colleagues throughout South Yorkshire Please ring 0114 2755760 for more information Website: www.sohas.co.uk Twitter: @SOHAShealth Blog: https://sohasworkplacehealth.com/