Mental Health in the Workplace - Fireside Chat

Welcome to this first Fireside Chat with host Steve Ennis (Business Doctors). The theme this month will be on Mental Health in the Workplace, with the aim of providing insightful discussions and practical tips on how to promote mental well-being in the workplace.

The panel includes: Chas Howes (ex CFO Superdry), Chris Hopkirk (The Business of Mindfulness), Dominic Dutton-Edwards (NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression’ Service). They will share their wealth of knowledge and experiences to ensure we put mental health and wellbeing matters centre stage.

Whether you're a SME, a start-up business, a manager, or an employee looking to improve mental health at work, this fireside chat is the perfect opportunity to learn and connect with like-minded individuals.

Everyone is welcome. Don't miss out on this valuable event - mark your calendar and join us for an evening of learning and networking.

Agenda

5:30pm - Networking & Refreshments

6:00pm - Panel Discussion

7:00pm - Q&A/Networking

7:30pm - Close

Panel Speakers

Steve Ennis (Host) - Business Doctors Managing Director

Steve is MD of Business Doctors in Worcestershire and works with a wide variety of business owners to help develop and grow their business. He supports owners by formulating a plan and then works with them to see the plan through to completion. While engaged in this work Steve has learned that the people in a business are the key to its success. He supports business owners in developing their leadership and management skills so they in turn can get the best from their people. Steve is also a business mentor for Worcestershire County Council. He lectures and mentors business owners on the government sponsored “Help to Grow” management programme and Exec MBA, both of which are run by Worcester University Business School. He also lectures MBA students on Global Strategy and International Operations at the same University. With 30 years corporate management experience Steve is a champion of supporting business owners in developing clear mental health and well being strategies in the workplace, one, because ethically it’s the right thing to do and two, because it helps people and businesses succeed, both personally and professionally.

Chas Howes - ex CFO Superdry

Chas achieved the peak of his career when appointed as Superdry CFO. Asked to drive enterprise value through controlled growth, he led the organisation to list as a public company on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, taking the business from sales of £25m to £314m. Just months after the listing, he found himself in hell. His wife was in hospital with a life-threatening heart condition, Superdry had run aground after three profit warnings in quick succession. Lined up as a scapegoat he was unceremoniously fired. He was soon spiralling towards multiple suicide attempts, and an eventual diagnosis of depression in December 2016. In the years since, he has grappled with a highly publicised end to a job he loved; confronted a past of being bullied at boarding school, and a family history of mental illness and eventually putting himself into therapy. Having looked back across his career to examine how professional and personal life can be influenced by depression, and vice versa, he has turned his attention to mental health in business more broadly and considered what individuals and companies can do to be part of meaningful change. The mission is to create a psychologically safe environment for everyone, particularly, those at senior management and board level. This new found passion and purpose is about changing attitudes to mental ill health. He has written a book about his story, is an accomplished speaker, and hosts a weekly show on FUBAR Radio titled “Just Not Good Enough” which discusses mental wellbeing, particularly in business. He now realises he doesn’t suffer from depression; he lives with it.

Chris Hopkirk - The Business of Mindfulness

The Business of Mindfulness focuses on helping companies create sustainable workplace mental health and wellbeing strategies that build employee resilience in the workplace. Their work helps HR Directors reduce absenteeism, cut recruitment costs and improve staff retention rates. Employee wellbeing and engagement also benefit, resulting in their clients experiencing increased productivity which can be seen directly on the bottom line. Chris Hopkirk, Founder and MD of the Business of Mindfulness, supports CEO’s and HR Directors in creating a work-place culture that is safe and enables employees to be open about their mental health.

Dominic Dutton-Edwards - Service Manager for the local ‘NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression’ Service with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

The service delivers psychological therapies for common mental health conditions to individuals throughout the region. Dominic studied Psychology & Human Biology at University before starting his career working in forensic mental health inpatient hospitals. Subsequently, Dominic pursued post-graduate qualifications in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, offering psychological therapy within NHS services. Currently, he is in the process of completing his MSc in Healthcare Leadership. Dominic holds a particular interest in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which posits a life rich with meaning and value inevitably comes hand-in-hand with painful internal experiences. ACT moves away from trying to eliminate painful internal experiences and instead aims to help people build the capacity to carry these difficult experiences in pursuit of valued action, with the understanding difficult experiences are often an inherent part of engaging with the things that matter the most to us in life (“in your values you find your pain, and in your pain you find your values”). Dominic’s passion is for compassionate leadership. He recognises that fostering wellbeing and cultivating a psychologically safe and trusting work environment directly translates to excellent patient care.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Hive, The Butts, Worcester, United Kingdom