News & Events

If you know about or are planning an event or have a news item which may be of interest to others then please contact us. As long as it’s about issues related to the employment of people with mental health issues then we will be happy to consider including it on this page. To send information about your news and events please contact us.

Raising Awareness
A range of mental health awareness sessions will be taking place at Workways (the organisation which runs MINDFUL EMPLOYER) in the Autumn:

BEING MINDFUL - 20 October & 9 December
A MINDFUL WORKPLACE - 9 November
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID - 13 & 14 October

All of these sessions can also be delivered at your premises on dates to suit you. Click here for more information.

Tackling Staff Sickness & Absenteeism      21 September   London
Published in November 2009, the NHS Health and Wellbeing Review by Dr Steve Boorman identified that the NHS could save up to £555 million if it cut staff absence rates by one third, saving the equivalent of 3.4 million working days. This is an ambitious target but it is an achievable one which this conference will address. Leading experts and pioneering Trusts will provide an insight into the best methods to reduce staff sickness and the opportunity to learn how to make the health and wellbeing of your staff a priority, giving you the skills to help your staff back to work. The conference will focus on:

     Engaging with and training line managers to make absence management a greater priority
     Assessing the progress of Fit Note
     Reducing the impact of stress and mental health issues among your staff by developing a greater understanding of the issues and solutions involved 
     Tackling absenteeism through embedded cultural change and altering the attitudes of staff towards absence
     Using examples of how other Trusts and organisations have reduced absence rates as a starting point for your Trust

For more information, please download the conference brochure or visit www.hsj-absence.com?WT.mc_id=J015_MindfulEmployer  

There is a 25% discount per delegate place on behalf of MINDFUL EMPLOYER by quoting MINDFUL25 – call 0845 056 8299 to book

Health & Wellbeing Conference     14 October  London
With Lord Freud, Dame Prof Carol Black and Dr Steve Boorman among the speakers, this topical and timely conference will provide delegates with the ideal opportunity to discuss the key challenges and solutions to ensuring that essential progress continues to be made across the health, work and wellbeing agenda. For more information visit www.govnet.co.uk/health or call 0800 542 9585

MINDFUL EMPLOYER Australia
MINDFUL EMPLOYER will soon be launched in Australia, as an initiative of Sane Australia, the national mental health charity. The Australian initiative was inspired by our work here in the UK and following discussion, we have now signed an agreement with SANE Australia that the latter will operate a MINDFUL EMPLOYER initiative in Australia, and that we will maintain an ongoing working relationship. A manager for the initiative has recently been appointed and a public launch is planned for later in 2010. While it will be independent and adapted to the different economic, employment and welfare conditions in Australia, the SANE Australia initiative is founded on common aspirational principles and is already receiving an enthusiastic response from employers. The initiative will also be run in conjunction with the Norwood Association. For more information, contact charmaine.smith@sane.org

BBC You & Yours
Linking in with MIND's new report (see below), on Monday 17 May, BBC Radio 4 You & Yours revisited the topic of mental health and the workplace and, focussing on small businesses and the effects of the recession, included an update on Mindful Employer signatory Andy's Kars who were featured in a programme in May 2009. Click here to listen - the piece starts at approx 9 mins 10 seconds in to the programme and lasts just over 12 minutes.
On Wednesday 19 May, the programme looked at staff working for the NHS and included an interview with Margaret Barrett, who leads the NHS Employers 'Open Your Mind' campaign.  Click here to listen  - it starts about 7 minutes in and lasts for 9 minutes..

Taking Care of Business: Mental Wellbeing at Work
Mind has launched la 3-year employment campaign, 'Taking care of business: mental wellbeing at work'. Mind is asking employees and employers to face up to mental health, showing that friendly, open and supportive work environments benefit everyone. Each year, 1 in 6 workers experience depression, anxiety or unmanageable stress. Mind say that for too long mental health has been a taboo subject in the workplace, with millions of people feeling that they need to put on a 'brave face' and hide their mental distress. Mind show how millions of lives could be improved and millions of pounds could be saved if employers took simple, inexpensive steps to improve the mental wellbeing of their workforce. Email work@mind.org.uk  for more details. Sign up to the campaign for free workplace and campaigners' guides, top wellbeing tips and receive Mind's campaign film, 'Behind the mask' at www.mind.org.uk/work

See UK pages for details of Local Employer Networks and other meetings and events.

We are not responsible for the content or accuracy of of any downloadable information (except where shown as being published MINDFUL EMPLOYER^®) and linked websites, nor the services delivered by or terms and conditions of the organisations shown. Inclusion on this site is on a 'for information' basis for you to make your own enquiries and does not imply any form of endorsement or otherwise by MINDFUL EMPLOYER^®.