It’s estimated that the average person spends around one third of their life at work. Managing a demanding workload alongside a busy home life has its challenges but adding a global pandemic into the mix can be overwhelming, with coronavirus having completely altered the way we work.
As working life can be stressful, it’s important we take care of our mental health. For those of us living with an existing mental health condition, work can be particularly stressful, especially if our needs aren’t being met in the workplace.
In this Q&A, we’ll be discussing how we can improve our wellbeing at work with some practical tips and advice you can implement in your own life.
We’re delighted to be joined by the following panellists:
- Emma Carrington manages the Rethink Mental Illness Advice & Information Service. The team provides holistic advice and information to people over 18 and living in England, who are affected by mental illness. This can be people who live with an illness, carers, friends, family, employers, or professionals. Emma has worked for Rethink for 4 ½ years and loves it!
Previously Emma worked in a bank for 22 years specialising in fraud and risk management. Although she liked her role, she really wanted to feel she was making a difference to people’s lives, so made a career change just as she was hitting the big 40! Emma has worked for a homeless charity, a drug and alcohol service and the National Probation Service. She is also a qualified counsellor and has worked a lot with clients from the LGBT+ community. Outside of work she is currently fostering a reactive dog which keeps her busy. She also loves gaming, knitting and geocaching.
- Fiona Scullion is the WorkWise Manager at MindWise New Vision (MindWise is a mental health charity operating in Northern Ireland, delivering services to those affected by or at risk of mental health issues).
Through WorkWise, Fiona assists organisations to identify training and learning needs and delivers programmes tailored to their needs. Fiona also helps organisations design, develop and implement a health and wellbeing strategy to ensure that the positive wellbeing of employees becomes part of the culture within organisations and to reduce stigma surrounding mental health in the workplace.
Fiona has worked with a wide range of organisations to raise awareness of mental health in the workplace and the need for effective management and support for all employees and managers.
Fiona is a qualified Personal; Executive and a Mental Health & Wellbeing Coach and is registered with EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council); CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) and NISCC (Northern Ireland Social Care Council) and has worked within the mental health sector for over 20 years.
- Ellen Lapworth-Maisey is the Wellbeing Coordinator at DPD. She looks after and manages the wellbeing offerings that DPD has. A big part of her role is sourcing new things for DPD and seeing what could work for them. Due to the nature of the business, there are a wide range of roles and people at DPD. They all require a different approach to maintain wellbeing at work, which means DPD’s offerings need to be relevant. Ellen has always been passionate about wellbeing and mental health; she studied counselling psychology at university and has worked in various settings from care homes to secure units. Her passion is people, and her vision for DPD is for everyone who works there to feel like there is something for them, regardless of identity, race, gender, religion etc.
This session will be hosted by Charlotte Tidbury, Programme Support Officer at Mental Health UK.
To tune into the session, you’ll first need to create an account on Clic, then simply log in on Wednesday 28 April at midday and come back to the event page for the Q&A.
If you have a question you’d like to put to our experts, you can either submit one in advance or ask it in the live chat function while the event is happening.