With Mental Health Awareness Week 2015 taking place this week, it has been announced that mental health will be a key focus of Safety & Health Expo 2016.
One in four people experience a mental health problem each year, and in 2013, mental health conditions emerged as the single most widespread cause of long-term absence from the workplace in a survey conduct by Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Heather Beach, director of OSH global at UBM, said: “Given that 1 in 4 people suffer at some point in their lives from a mental health related issue, the CBI latest statistics showing that it costs the UK economy over £14bn a year are no real surprise.
“Inside of the commitment we have to address the ‘health’ in health and safety, there will be a content stream on emotional wellbeing at work at Safety and Health Expo in 2016. We expect it to be relevant to our core health and safety professional audience, HR professionals and business leaders in general. We’ve already started engaging with some interesting speakers and writers who are new SHE and to SHP, around this topic.”
Mental ill health can be seen as a taboo, with people often afraid to disclose that they have problem for fear of being treated differently. However, work can actually help people to thrive, by providing a steady routine, salary and identity.
By creating a stream focused on mental health in the workplace at Safety & Health Expo 2016, there will be an opportunity to engage all those people who are able to affect change in the workplace, including health and safety professionals, HR professionals as well as managers and directors.
Attend Safety & Health Expo 2015 to engage with like-minded professionals.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
