WIREDGOV

The chief executive of health charity Mind will be addressing the issue of mental wellbeing in the workplace during a speech today (Tuesday, October 18).

Paul Farmer CBE, who is also chairman of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, will discuss ways in which good practice can be embedded across workplaces during the annual Allan St John Holt Memorial Lecture, hosted by RoSPA and the Royal Mail.

Addressing an audience of health and safety professionals from across the country, Mr Farmer’s speech will explain how mental wellbeing in the workplace has risen in profile for employers cross-sector since Mind launched its Taking Care of Business Campaign in 2010.

His lecture will explore the learning from the past six years, outlining how many organisations have played a key role in thinking about their response to the mental wellbeing of their staff, including supporting line managers to perform their roles effectively, and ensuring staff who develop mental health problems get the right help and support.

He will also set out ideas on where workplace wellbeing is heading next, and question how good practice is to be embedded in workplace culture, where mental health sits in relation to health and safety, diversity and equality and boardroom leadership, and what role employers will play in the future.

The annual lecture, taking place in London, commemorates the life and work of Allan St John Holt OBE, who was influential in the field of safety and health, and was group head of safety at Royal Mail Group at the time of his death in 2007. Safety charity RoSPA and Royal Mail host the event to stimulate fresh thinking about accidents and ill health.

Mr Farmer is a trustee at Lloyds Bank Foundation, chairman of the NHS England Mental Health Taskforce, Honorary Fellow of St Peter’s College Oxford, and has an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of East London.