Beyond Blue Monday
January 15, 2024
On the year's most miserable day (allegedly), Heather Beach says it's not surprising we're so exhausted, but embracing realistic optimism might just take the edge off. Read More
What problem are we trying to solve with our wellbeing strategy?
August 1, 2023
Heather Beach draws on the findings from her new book and asks why workplaces sometimes struggle to implement a workplace wellbeing strategy. Read More
What is Safety Thirst events and what does it have to do with Equity?
April 3, 2023
SHP hears from Heather Beach, as she discusses Safety Thirst, gatherings aimed to create a local community network within health and safety. Read More
Mental Health Awareness Week: How to avoid loneliness when working from home
May 9, 2022
In this article, Heather Beach provides some tips on avoiding loneliness when working from home. Read More
Getting better at listening
May 25, 2021
Being a good listener can be very hard for humans. We are hard wired to want to categorise, to solve, to judge, to relate to our own experience. When presented with a problem we just want to help. Read More
Wellbeing conversations are as simple as ABC (D)
May 20, 2021
One of the key recommendations from the Farmer Stevenson report “Thriving at Work” was: “Encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling”. Read More
What is your company doing to support employee wellbeing?
March 24, 2021
SHP and Healthy Work Company have launched a collaborative wellbeing survey, with the view to producing a whitepaper, highlighting some of the initiatives which organisations have undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as focusing on plans for the future. Read More
Women in Health & Safety update
November 30, 2020
Heather Beach, Founder of the Health Work Company and Women in Health & Safety committee member, provides an update on the committee’s activities over the last few months and looks ahead to some upcoming events. Read More
Time to change our approach to mental health
October 5, 2020
We have recently lived through a period which is challenging everyone. Our children, our workers, our elderly. It is unlikely to get better before it gets worse, as the economic fallout hits us, and we are told that the next epidemic will be anxiety. Read More
Almost 1 in 4 Britons report a positive improvement in mental health during lockdown
May 20, 2020
Launched during Mental Health Awareness Week, a recent survey looks at the nation’s mental health during the coronavirus lockdown. Read More
‘The world needs positive psychology for the next few months’
April 16, 2020
Positive Psychology (not to be confused with positive thinking) is the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. It has also been defined as the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organisations to thrive. Read More
Updating your wellbeing business case for 2020
March 4, 2020
Heather Beach looks at two reports, published to support your business case for organisational wellbeing – one from Deloitte and one from Robertson Cooper. Read More
Burnout, stress and being human
November 29, 2019
In May 2019, the World Health Organization announced that in the ICD11 (international classification of mental illnesses) there would be a new category of “burnout” as an occupational phenomenon – not a medical condition. Heather Beach discusses... Read More
Is a little knowledge a dangerous thing when it comes to mental health?
June 11, 2019
Do you need to be an expert to have a conversation with someone struggling with their mental health? Some say that you do. Some advocate not using peer to peer support systems because ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing’. Read More
3 ways to a mental health and wellbeing strategy
May 14, 2019
Only five to ten years ago, a wellbeing strategy looked like apples in the office, yoga at lunchtime, a cycle to work scheme and gym memberships. Read More
Mind Matters: Talking mental health with your boss
March 14, 2019
Heather Beach and Mark Glover discuss the relationship between employee and employer when it comes to opening up and talking about mental ill health. Read More
Mental Health First Aid regulation changes
December 5, 2018
November was a whirlwind in the world of mental health training, as Heather Beach from The Healthy Work Company explains. Read More
PTSD and the after-care of armed forces veterans
November 9, 2018
Heather Beach and Dr Dominic Cooper investigate the number of ex-military suicides as a result of PTSD and other mental health conditions. Read More
Banking on a bright future – lessons in wellbeing from down under
September 21, 2018
Heather Beach, from the Health Work Company, explores her findings on health and wellbeing in australia, following a month’s stay on the other side of the world. Read More
Managing risk in the waste industry – it’s not just recycled ideas
July 19, 2018
We put our rubbish in the bin; one day a week we put the bin out on the pavement; we may on occasion take big items to the 'tip'. Some of us campaign against the over use of plastics; ban plastic straws; worry about the ocean…. But in the main we have a confused relationship with our waste. Read More
Safety differently to business differently?
June 12, 2018
Simon Bown is Head of Health and Safety for London Luton Airport, arguably the most mature adoption of Safety Differently exemplified in the UK. Here Simon talks to Heather Beach from The Healthy Work Company about why he believes it isn’t just safety which should be done “differently”. Read More
Your organisation and the law – mental health and stress
June 1, 2018
Heather Beach discusses how several charities are calling for a change in the law, so that it becomes a legal requirement for organisations to have mental health as well as physical first aiders. Read More
Trauma and suicide – a workplace issue?
March 7, 2018
100 years ago, the greatest cause of death for young men, was war. Now it is suicide. According to the Read More
Beating Imposter Syndrome and developing self-confidence…together
December 8, 2017
Heather Beach of the Healthy Work Company outlines her experience of Imposter Syndrome - and the importance of health and safety professionals building self confidence. Read More
Considering Mental Health First Aid? How to get started…
November 15, 2017
It is the 10th anniversary of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in England this week, but it is only in the last couple of years that this training has become the main game in town for organisations wishing to start a mental health programme. Heather Beech assesses the scheme. Read More
Free place on skills event for SHP readers
September 18, 2017
Free space for an SHP reader to gain assess to skills insight from the Healthy Work Company. Read More
Taking Safety Differently to the next level
July 19, 2017
Heather Beach talks about her involvement in moving forward Laing O'Rourke's controversial Safety Differently programme. Read More
Women In Health and Safety – Michelle Rice the Safety Coach
June 7, 2017
Titles can be important. The fact that Michelle Rice is not a Safety Manager or Officer, but is instead a Read More
A new direction for Women in Health and Safety
June 5, 2017
SHP’s Women in Health and Safety is now officially two years old and we have decided it is time for Read More
Marvellous mentoring – the vicar’s way
May 4, 2017
Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or Read More
Is Safety Differently REALLY all that different?
March 2, 2017
Last year, when John Green came out and said “Safety is broken”, I was hooked. I started to spread Read More
Mental Health: The next major focus for health and safety professionals?
February 1, 2017
By Heather Beach In October last year, I attended a course called “Mental Health First Aid Lite”. Run by Mental Read More
Announcement: new editor for SHP
November 29, 2016
Lauren Applebey, the current commissioning editor for SHP, will be taking on the role of editor in the new year. Read More
Innovation in health and safety – just a buzzword?
April 1, 2016
Heather Beach explains how the term ‘innovation’ crops up a lot when people are asked what they want to see Read More
Anything but boring – Women in Health and Safety at Crossrail
March 8, 2016
Heather Beach describes her trip to the Farringdon Crossrail site with the Women in Health and Safety group. Read More
A brave new future
January 5, 2016
After 32 years, SHP’s print edition has closed and, as you might expect, the final issue is somewhat of a retrospective. Read More
A brave new online world for SHP!
December 3, 2015
On 1st December, we held a small party here at UBM to say goodbye to a 32 year legacy – Read More
OSH India case study: raising safety standards
October 1, 2014
Last year I attended our second Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) India exhibition and conference in Mumbai. Sadly, safety and India don’t Read More
