Conference Outlook

Summing up at In Equilibrium’s London conference in November, Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said, “Five or ten years ago it would not have been possible to get together speakers from such wide ranging organisations all of whom are promoting the benefits of investing in the mental health and well-being of people at work.”

That in itself was a real achievement for In Equilibrium at the company’s sixth conference which was a sell-out success.

The conference attracted the UK’s top leaders in lifestyle management including Dame Carol Black, the UK National Director for Work & Health,  whose recent review of the health of Britains working age population just received a response from the Government.   Recognising that there is still a lot of progress to be achieved Dame Black said, “Relatively few line managers think they can refer employees to a GP, and they often do not have the confidence in GP assessments particularly with regards to stress”.

Such a claim was supported by In Equilibrium Director, Dr David Mason Brown who added, “GPs are not really trained to assess whether someone is stressed and their definition of stress can be very different from the HSE’s definition.”

However, wellbeing management is not simply about work related issues as Dr Robert Carr, Vice-President and Corporate Medical Director of GlaxoSmithKline highlighted, “We want our people to go home with enough energy to enjoy quality time with the people most important to them”.

Other speakers included Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Chartered Occupational Psychologist; Professor Colin MacKay, Principal Psychologist; Matthew Thomas, Manager of HR Strategy & Policy at Ernst & Young; and Amanda Hinkley of Winchester & Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust.

Throughout the day delegates had the opportunity to take part in a number of workshops including ‘Developing Resilience in Managers’ and ‘Personal Wellbeing and Energy’.

Alastair Taylor, Director, In Equilibrium said, “It was a really lively conference which just underlines the importance of well-being and the need for us all to strive to address this growing issue and not be complacent.”