Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace - 2024 Virtual Conference

Introduction

Chaired by Carol Duff, this annual conference with a panel of leading experts offers a comprehensive update as to the current hot topics in this fast-moving area.

Each session will provide a full opportunity for questions and answers.

Conference Agenda

This 5 hour conference will cover the following:

10:00am-11:00am: Maintaining Mental Wellbeing and Avoiding Burnout in a Digital World

Chair: Carol Duff, University of Lincoln

Over the past few years, and particularly since the start of the pandemic, we've been spending more time online. But this can actually leave us feeling more disconnected, burnt-out, and anxious.

This session will explore taking back control of our relationship with technology, enabling individuals and communities to feel good about when they connect, and using technology to realise their potential.

Morning Break

11:10am-12:10pm: Managing Mental Health in Changing Times

Maisie McKenzie, MJM Health Leadership in Practice Limited

This session will explore how to manage stress, mental health, and wellbeing during changing times. It will cover:

• Mental health and wellbeing and what our minds are capable of
• Techniques to invite balance in regard to your mental health and wellbeing
• Action plan to integrate these techniques
• Resources

12:10pm-1:10pm: Mental Health & Disability Discrimination Law

Clare Brereton, Brahams Dutt Badrick French LLP

Knowledge of an employee’s disability is a key component of disability discrimination law. An employer’s liability for disability discrimination will, in some cases, turn on whether they have knowledge of the disability in the first place.

Three different types of knowledge are relevant here: actual knowledge, imputed knowledge and constructive knowledge and employers and employees need to be alive when each type of knowledge will arise.

This session will focus on mental health as an invisible disability and what employers and HR teams can do to protect their position.

The session will cover:

• Mental health and disability - What are ’invisible disabilities’?
• What protections do those with invisible disabilities have?
• The three types of knowledge in disability discrimination claims: actual, deemed, and constructive
• What can employers and employees do to protect their position?

Break for lunch

2:00pm-3:00pm: Career Resilience & Wellbeing

Hannah Courtney Bennett, Career Coach & Chartered Psychologist

This session will explore how to proactively manage your career as your expertise develops and your expectations evolve.

It will include:

• Healthier habits to boost careers
• Developing career resilience - prepare for the road ahead
• Handling the strange and unexpected
• Embracing change - be the one who looks back at your colleagues and says, ‘I know the way… follow me’

Afternoon break

3:15pm-4:15pm: Managing Mental Health - A Personal View

Ian Jones, Solicitor

Speaking from his own experience, Ian Jones will discuss how mental health has affected him as a lawyer and how he manages this.

This session will explore the following:

• Tips on managing depression and anxiety
• What you need to think about when helping those who may have mental health issues in the workplace
• How the landscape is changing to remove the stigma

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.