Mental health masterclass

How it works

Prior to 2020, this event would be a conference-style seminar with guest speakers and table top engagement for around 100 attendees. The focus of the day would depend on emerging themes and issues from engagement with supervisors around mental health and absence management issues.  

Traditionally they would take the format of a chief officer introduction, an input from occupational health on wellbeing services, and an overview of trends by our in-house mental health nurse. Guest speakers are also invited and we have had inputs from John Sutherland, State of Mind, and other leaders in mental health. The afternoon sessions involve round table discussions and case studies of anonymised mental health cases. With the help of trained facilitators and HR business partners, supervisors are encouraged to discuss how they would manage these cases, highlighting key interventions and support.

In 2020, we adapted the format for a virtual event that ran throughout the week rather than on a single day. We developed a series of inputs by guest speakers and our in house counsellors, with two sessions a day run live time with recordings archived on our wellbeing portal. These sessions included key issues such as PTSD/suicide, managing mental health remotely, grief & bereavement, emotional burnout and care first.