Managing mental health issues in the workplace
Hosted by Linklaters - London
In 2013, a National Union of Students study found that one in five students considered themselves to have a mental health problem. These students are bright, hard working and ambitious. In order for them to succeed, employers must be able to provide the support they require to flourish in the tough environments that they will invariably face.
- Every year, one in four of us will experience mental health issues.
- Nearly 3 in every 10 employees will have a poor mental health in any one year.
- More than 1 in 10 students surveyed had experienced suicidal thoughts during the time at university.
- 19% of staff feel they can’t speak to managers about stress at work.
Stephen Fry, Alasdair Campbell and Ruby Wax are all proof that, with the correct support, individuals with mental health issues can have hugely successful careers. To attract graduates who have mental ill health issues to apply to you, to support them during the recruitment process and in the workplace itself it is imperative that you understand the issues, know the signs and signals to look for and provide the necessary support.
At this Café
Experts shed light on the medical aspects of mental health before moving on to discuss the signs and signals to look for and what steps you should take. Delegates also went on to discuss how to support people during the recruitment process and the types of adjustments that may be appropriate.
Speakers
Andrew Gibson
Andrew is a keynote speaker, writer, entrepreneur and campaigner specialising in innovation and culture change. He founded the “5-a-day for your mind” campaign, Mindapples, co-founded the education web start-up, School of Everything, and helps businesses be more remarkable through his consultancy, Sociability.
He has advised many of the world's top organisations on innovation and business performance, including News UK & Ireland, L'Oreal, Accenture, pwc, the Wellcome Trust, Gowling WLG, the NSPCC, the Wellcome Trust and most of the world’s top investment banks. He's also a former Trustee of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. His businesses have won awards from the New Statesman, the Cabinet Office and the UK Prime Minister, and Wired Magazine once named him the 78th most influential person in UK technology.
His most recent book, A Mind for Business (Pearson, 2015) is a practical guide to managing your mind at work, and won a Management Book of the Year Gold Award in 2016. His previous written works include Social by Social, the UK's first major guide to using social media for social good, and the influential local government innovation paper, Local by Social.
His current research interests include psychology, wellbeing, management theory, leadership, purpose-driven business and the future of work. Originally a historian, he's slowly realising that studying periods of rapid social and cultural change is the ideal preparation for navigating the swirling waters of the information age.
Helen White-Knight
Helen is an IT accessibility manager for Barclays, specialising in disability advocacy and workplace adjustments. She is also the mental health agenda lead for Barclays’ disability network. Helen writes for several publications, chairs the Rethink Mental Illness London committee and also has her own blog and YouTube channel. Helen was a professional film and TV composer before starting in this field.
Adam Spreadbury
Adam is Quality Assurance Manager at Prudential Regulation Authority, Bank of England. He is also co-chair of the Bank's Mental Health Network. He helped the Bank to publicly support the Time to Change anti-stigma mental health pledge in 2013. Adam also featured in articles in the Financial Times and Buzzfeed where he talked about being ill with depression and how support from his managers and colleagues at the time helped him recover.
Sylvia Bruce
Sylvia is a performance, life/life-style coach, mental health in the workplace coach, champion and inspirational speaker, unafraid to share her suicidal depression experiences.
Sylvia recently left a successful investment banking and performance management career at HSBC to concentrate on her passion to encourage workplace disability and mental health confidence. Whilst at HSBC she was also mental health champion, mental health network Chair and Business Disability Steering Committee member driving the Time to Change Pledge agenda forward, masterminding innovative activities, events and regularly featured in various internal communications.
Ankur Banerjee
Ankur Banerjee is a Senior Analyst at Accenture in technology delivery and innovation. He joined as a graduate in 2014, and in addition to his role been involved with inclusion and diversity campaigns within the company as part of the committee on an internal group on disability issues called ‘Accent on Enablement’ – and its Mental Health Network. His passion within Accenture is to enable graduates and new analysts / consultants to find support for mental health in the workplace.
Sabrina Tozzi
Sabrina is an Associate in the London office of Baker & McKenzie LLP. She qualified into the Intellectual Property team in March 2014 at the end of her training contract. Prior to starting at Baker & McKenzie LLP, Sabrina read History at University College London. Sabrina was diagnosed with clinical depression in her early twenties and currently manages her condition through a combination of medication and therapy.
Jessica Biggs
Jessica is currently on the Technology Consulting graduate programme at KPMG, where she joined in 2014 after graduating with a 1st class degree in Psychology & Neuroscience from the University of St Andrews. Having dealt with anxiety for several years and studying the subject at university, Jessica has recently started discussing her experiences openly, and hopes to raise awareness and increase acceptance of discussions about mental health in the workplace. She has been involved with KPMG’s Be Mindful network since joining, where she has helped organise events in KPMG’s offices for Time to Talk Day and Mental Health Awareness Week as well as speaking internally about the subject. Jessica believes that everyone has mental as well as physical health and hopes that through dialogue and openness everyone can learn to take better care of their health overall.
