Talking About Mental Health: The Leadership Edition

Emotional intelligence and mental health awareness is key for any successful leader or people manager. After all, excellent culture starts from role models at the top, and these cultures rely on positive mental wellbeing.

But talking about mental health can be challenging and it’s a topic that can make even the bravest concerned about overstepping the mark.

So, to help you support your people, we’ve brought together three incredible workplace health experts with experience from clinical psychology to managing wellbeing at an organisation of 40,000+ people.

And this could not be more timely. This year The Workplace Health Report: 2022 revealed that nearly 60% of our employees feel anxious and just over half feel low in mood – with 1 in 5 reporting that poor mental health impacts their productivity.

Clearly, with such widespread mental health challenges in our organisations, now is the time to start the conversation – or continue to smash the stigma within your organisation.

In this live session, you’re going to learn how you – as a leader or people manager – can talk confidently about mental health at work, without overstepping the mark.

You’ll also learn how you can cascade these learnings into your line managers and employees.

Attendees were able to ask questions during the session.

This live session is ideal for anyone responsible for workplace wellbeing, including:

  • HR professionals
  • Wellbeing leads
  • Reward and benefits professionals

Resources

Download the following slides, guides and accompanying resources:

Speakers

Dr Vikki Barnes – Organisational Wellbeing Consultant & Speaker, Clinical Psychologist and founder of Positive Wellbeing

Vikki has designed leading national wellbeing programmes, holds 10 years’ experience working within the NHS and has wowed some of the country’s top entrepreneurs with what can be achieved with wellbeing – including Sir Richard Branson. She is also the founder of Positive Wellbeing, an organisational wellbeing consultancy business.

Andy Holmes – Global Head of Wellbeing at Reckitt Benckiser Group

As Global Head of Wellbeing at one of the UK’s largest organisations, Andy brings a wealth of experience to this panel. Driven by his personal experiences, knowledge & passion for people, Andy focuses on a strategic approach to ‘human capacity’ and works alongside an extensive network of specialists to restructure personal and organisational approaches to wellbeing, leadership & performance.

Sarah Restall – Senior Consultant and Head of Strategic Engagement at Wellbeing With Cari

A veteran of the workplace health world, Sarah’s vision is to create a world where we can speak as normally about mental health as we do about physical health. With buckets of energy and an incredible career, from Mind to the InsideOut Leaderboard, Sarah will make a fantastic panellist.

Harry Bliss – Co-founder and CEO at Champion Health

After losing a friend and mentor to suicide, Harry set out to change and save lives by making healthier easier, for everyone. Since 2018, Harry has worked towards making wellbeing inclusive, engaging and accessible.

Other content Karsten has contributed to:

12 Minutes of Workplace Health Podcast Episode #21

Boosting your wellbeing with nature

Eating Disorders in the Workplace