Podcasts about mental health network

Comments or feedback? Send us a text! At first glance, perfectionism looks like an asset; however, the same internal drive that fuels greatness can also erode well-being, leaving success feeling empty and unsatisfying. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Heather Wheeler, psychologist and former elite athlete, to explore the psychology of perfectionism in high achievers. In this conversation we cover: Defining perfectionism: What is it and is it ever adaptive?Early Conditioning: The role of coaches, parents, and social environments in shaping perfectionistic traits.When It Becomes Harmful: How to recognize when a drive towards excellence is tipping into burnout or mental health risk.Identity & Performance: How high performers conflate self-worth with performance—and what happens post-retirement.Working with High Performers: Navigating some of the specific challenges that can come with working with high performers Perception by others: How perfectionistic high performers can be perceived by others in an untoward fashion and what can be done about it Evolutionary Significance: The potential evolutionary origins of perfectionismUnmet Needs: How leveraging awareness of unmet needs, loneliness and a lack of connection within one's broader life can help high performers achieve a higher quality of life Injury & Recovery: How a perfectionistic mindset can both help and hinder the recovery process.Mental Health Risks: Links between perfectionism and anxiety, depression, and eating disorders in high performers.Values: Facilitating effective discussions with high performers in therapeutic, parenting and coaching contexts Heather is one of Canada's leading experts at the intersection of mental health and high-performance sport. Recognized for her deep knowledge and skill as a Clinical Psychologist with expertise in performance psychology, alongside her passion and enthusiasm for creating change, Heather's impact is system-wide; including support for athletes, coaches, sport leaders and organizations across all levels of the Canadian sport system. She has been on the leading edge of the evolution of mental health prioritization in sport in recent years, helping build awareness of the unique challenges related to “mental injuries,” including eating disorders. She is adept at driving high-performance cultures through a series of steps and processes that develop the right conditions for people and organizations to grow to their full potential. As Mental Health Lead for Athletics Canada, Swimming Canada and Canadian Sport Institute Ontario, Heather leads the path for early intervention and treatment of athletes and coaches. She is also the psychologist for the HighPerformance Centre – Ontario (HPC-ON), working with the national swim team athletes and coaches and creating a psychologically-informed environment. She has been supporting high-performance and world-class athletes and coaches on their journey up to and including the Olympics and Paralympics since 2008 and is a provider for Game Plan's Mental Health Network. Heather has over two decades of experience providing psychological assessment and evidence-based treatment to diverse populations, in both private practice and the public healthcare system.  Beyond clinical practice and leadership roles, Heather is a sought-after keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, known for creating engaging, transformative experiences and workshops related to mental health for high-performers. www.heatherwheeler.com 

In this week's episode, Tracy speaks to Linda Hunt about “Agknow: Alberta's Farm Mental Health Network.” Attention Alberta Farmers & Professionals Whether it's accessing resources for yourself, or pointing a farmer in the right direction, AgKnow is your key partner in the evolving landscape of farm mental health. Their vision is to create a shift in farming culture to one where caring for mental health is a natural part of farm life. They want to increase resiliency in farming communities, de-stigmatize mental health, reduce barriers to services, and stay relevant and current with the issues impacting the agriculture industry in Alberta. Join Tracy as she speaks to Linda Hunt, Program Director, as she shares more about AgKnow, their purpose and mission, and the mental health resources their provide to Alberta's agriculture community. If you are part of the agriculture community in Alberta, you won't want to miss this episode.   *********** SHOW RESOURCES    https://www.agknow.ca Support or Donate a Session:https://www.agknow.ca/support-us Other Provincial Resources BC - AgsafeBC.ca Counselling program SK - SaskAgMatters.ca MB - Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program ON - Farmer Wellness Initiative QB - Ecoute Agricole, ACFA NS - We Talk We Grow NB - Farm Talk Care PEI - Farmer Assistance Program, Farmers Talk *********** SIGN UP If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to sign up as an Insider so that you are first to know about all-new Impact Farming episodes, Expert Corner Segments, fantastic contests, and new promotions https://www.farmmarketer.com/impact_farming_show/sign-up

A team of researchers at University College Dublin and the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at UCD have secured funding to build a Digital Youth Mental Health network in Europe and beyond as part of the EU's COST Action funding stream. The YouthDMH COST Action will be led by Dr Andreas Balaskas and Dr David Coyle and will run over four years, with the aim of supporting inclusive and innovative research on technology-enabled youth mental health. It will address issues including online help-seeking, information and misinformation, the role of social media, and the potential impact of emerging AI technology on mental health support. The project will emphasise the direct involvement of young people in the design of new technologies. It will also emphasise collaboration across disciplines and between academia and industry. The Action will provide policy guidance and recommendations for government, civil organisations and funding bodies. Project co-lead Andreas Balaskas, a research fellow at UCD School of Computer Science and a Postdoc with the Insight SFI Centre, explains the goal of the network. 'YouthDMH will consider how we can support mental health from the point at which young people first become aware of the difficulties through to the delivery of large-scale evidence-based interventions. It will do so in a way that ensures young people and marginalised communities have a voice in envisaging the future.' Dr Coyle commented, 'Our core aim is to understand how technology can complement and integrate with existing services and help to ensure that more young people have access to appropriate mental health support.' COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding organisation for research and innovation networks. COST 'Actions' are interdisciplinary bottom-up research networks that bring researchers and innovators together to investigate a topic of their choice for four years. The success of the YouthDMH proposal is particularly noteworthy given the competitive landscape this year - the success rate for applications was 11.5%. For further information, click here.

Psychiatrists Dr. Benjamin Rosen and Dr. Andrew Howlett believe the mental health of fathers is a wellness indicator for the whole family. Why then, do so many dads feel shame about caring for their mental health? Benjamin and Andrew discuss this stigma, how the brain is impacted by becoming a dad and why they founded the Fathers' Mental Health Network.

Are systems set up to meet the needs of future generations? Is enough being done to act on the social determinants of health? In this episode, we hear five perspectives on these questions and get their take on why – and how – the relationship between the NHS, citizens and communities needs to change.Recorded at the ICS Network's conference in November and chaired by Jacob Lant, chief executive of National Voices, the episode features:Haris Sultan, NExT Director programme and member West Yorkshire ICBOliver Coppard, Mayor, South YorkshireLeanora Volpe, Anchor Programme Lead at South East London ICSMarsha McAdam, Service User Representative and Vice-Chair, Mental Health Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People with a learning disability have poorer health and experience greater and persistent inequalities in health. So how can we shift the dial? In this episode, Dr Jane Padmore, chief executive of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, explores how reimagining the workforce, making better use of the voluntary sector and deepening understandings of learning disability, autism and neurodiversity can go some way. Jane, who is also chair of the Mental Health Network's Learning Disability Forum, shares how a life-changing summer placement ignited a life-long passion that has shaped her career. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mags Casey, organiser of the National Traveller Mental Health Network, on today's protest outside Leinster House to demand political action to address the high rate of suicide among Travellers.

Thomas interviewed Panu about his recent climate emotions research and the Climate Emotions Wheel created by the Climate and Mental Health Network based on Panu's work.

In June 2023, the final report from a minister-commissioned review was released; the report followed a rapid review into data on mental health inpatient settings. In this episode Dr Geraldine Strathdee, chair of the review, talks to Mental Health Network chief executive Sean Duggan about its key findings and recommendations. Delve into the detail of how data across the system can enable people to make better decisions to improve lives and care. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our presenter Rosie Clarke for this special National Inclusion Week 2023 episode, where we delve into our third National Inclusion Week 2023 Daily Action:  Take action – empower your employees.Our guests in this episode include our Director of Impact and Major Programmes, Addison Barnett and our guest speakers from NHS Employers, one of the sponsors for National Inclusion Week 2023:Cheryl Gascoigne, Advanced Occupational Therapist and Chair of The Enabled Staff Network, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustTracie Jolliff, Head of Inclusive Leadership and System Development, NHS England and Deputy Chair of the Health and Care Women Leaders NetworkChris Truscott, Programme Manager, Mental Health Network and Heath and Care LGBTQ+ Leaders Network and co-chair LGBTQ+ Staff Group, NHS Confederation.Find out more about National Inclusion Week. A transcript will be made available. 

Lisa Daughtrey, mental health advocate, motivational speaker, TV & radio contributor and founder of BE Eazy, joins T-Kea and Jordan to discuss the loss of her son who died to suicide as a teenager.Get your tickets! BLACK & SUICIDAL: The Rise of Suicide in the Black Communityhttps://www.eventbrite.com/manage/events/662020199237/tickets SpotlightIan Daughtrey (18) of Alexandria, VA Nah'Jaron Holmes (13) of Charlotte, NCImani McCray (8) of NewarkNJAshawnty Davis (10) of Aurora, COJamari Williams (10) of Montgomery, ALSeven Bridges (10) of Louisville, KYJeffrey Taylor (7) of San Antonio, TXGabriel Taye (8) of Cincinnati, OHMcKenzi Adams (9) Linden, ALMadison Whittsett (9) of Birmingham, ALResource SegmentYouth Mental Health First Aid taught by your co-host T-Kea. If you are interested in taking her trainings, please reach out to her directly: t-kea@t-keablackman.com or visit https://www.mheagency.com/ To learn more about Youth Mental Health First Aid such as how it started or additional information, visit https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/get-involved/mental-health-first-aid/?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwh8mlBhB_EiwAsztdBJ67futJIZn8Vj9iYNK8KB1X80vtxU2nMSS3XQ34XJbO9uRQKKpXQBoCv9IQAvD_BwE Children's Mental Health Network:https://www.cmhnetwork.org/The Youth Mental Health Project: https://ymhproject.org/Mental Health Resources: https://www.blackpeoplediebysuicidetoo.org/_files/ugd/c79b52_8baa68adc228487d9906b12722f86b61.pdf Moment of InspirationCheck in with your children and have an open, honest dialogue about how they are feeling.Connect With UsFollow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/blackpeoplediebysuicidetoo/ Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blackpeoplediebysuicide2?_t=8cjqDTiqHbq&_r=1Follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/blackpeoplediebysuicidetooYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@BPDBSTPodcast Follow T-Kea!IG: https://www.instagram.com/t_keablackman/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@t_keablackman?_t=8bmrLfPUQV4&_r=1 Follow Jordan!IG:https://www.instagram.com/thelatebluumer/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D DonateHelp us end suicide in the Black community and donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=FRHD8VAWVWV56 ShopGet your merch and support the show: https://bpdbst-podcast.printify.me/products 

Tune in to Michelle Gomez's podcast episode as she engages in an open conversation with Kat on how to improve mental health and wellness as an artist or entrepreneur. Gain insights on overcoming business obstacles, maintaining focus, preserving peace of mind, and managing distractions. Join us for an informative discussion on all things related to mental health and wellness in the creative and entrepreneurial world. We discuss the Mental Health Network and its upcoming workshops, which aim to help entrepreneurs prioritize their mental health. They also share personal tips for improving mental health, such as journaling, creating an imperfect morning routine, and identifying triggers. This episode emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and seeking support when needed. Resources: Mental Wealth Network: https://thementalwealth.network Ceate! Magazine: www.cretemagazine.com/subscribe Ekaterina Popova Instagram: @katerinaspopova Michelle Instagram: @michelleigomez 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Big Silence Foundation: If you or anyone you know is dealing with thoughts of suicide, text “HERO” to 741-741 to reach The Big Silence Crisis Text Line.

Ok, this episode is a MUST LISTEN for the amazing artists and entrepreneurs out there! Join us for a powerful discussion about mental health with Michelle I Gomez, founder of The Mental Wealth Network. From building a fast-growing coaching business to providing essential services to help entrepreneurs prioritize their mental wellness, Michelle is a true leader in our community. Here's what we discuss:1. Why Michelle took a much-needed break from social media for an entire year, and how disconnecting helped her to find a deep sense of clarity in life and business.2. What inspired Michelle to build The Mental Health Network, and how her experience as an entrepreneur living with Bipolar Disorder 2 has shaped the work she's doing today.3. The importance of prioritizing our mental wellness and implementing daily strategies to keep our health in check. (hint: write down 5 strategies and keep them in a place that's visible!)4. How being part of a tight-knit community can provide us with the connection and support needed to feel healthy and uplifted.About Michelle:Michelle I. Gomez is a multi-passionate creator and is the Founder of The Mental Wealth Network - a network dedicated to helping entrepreneurs achieve true wealth by educating, inspiring, and empowering them to prioritize their mental health and well-being. After having founded her own successful multi-six figure arts coaching business and helping over 300 artists, she now serves as a Mental Wealth mentor for entrepreneurs who struggle with mental health to build a business that helps them prioritize their wellbeing.Follow Michelle on Instagram: @michelleigomez + @thementalwealthnetworkWebsite: thementalwealth.network Visit our website: visionaryartcollective.comFollow us on Instagram: @visionaryartcollective + @newvisionarymag

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In this episode of Health on the Line, Matthew talks to Andy Bell and Marsha McAdam about No Wrong Door: a vision for mental health, autism and learning disability services in 2032.Andy is interim CEO at the Centre for Mental Health, whilst Marsha is a mental health influencer, an ambassador for many organisations, including the Centre for Mental Health, and vice chair of NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for a super powered episode where were we discuss strategies to help develop wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. During our discussion we focus on nurturing a strength based approach to neurodiversity and the positive impact this can have on our children and young people. This approach aims to help people see the best in themselves and empower them with their own unique qualities. We are delighted to welcome Professor Sean Duggan OBE and Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network as our expert guide through this topic, where we explore some of the challenges that our children face, the social impact and school environments. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to The Business of Healthcare Podcast.  This week I have the absolute pleasure of speaking with Sean Duggan OBE who is the Chief Executive, Mental Health Network for the NHS Confederation and he has held this position since 2016.  Sean is dedicated to raising standards of care and treatment of mental health services and improving lives of those who use the services and their carers.  We talk about ICS (Integrated Care Systems), ICB (Integrated Care Boards), The NHS Confederation & Mental Health Network, influencing skills and practical advice on how to craft our arguments. The importance of relationships and collaboration. Sean also shares how we need to give this new way of coming together a really good go, it is a joy to speak with someone so passionate and enthusiastic – life is all about learning.     This week on the Business of Healthcare Podcast  Seans background as a mental health nurse and over 40 years of working in mental health  Mental Health services in prisons  Becoming a Board Director in his mid 30's  What prompted Sean to apply for his current role  Why Mental Health IS as important as Physical Health  Keeping Mental Health at the forefront     How to Connect with Sean Duggan  Twitter     Work with me    I'm Tara Humphrey and I'm the founder of THC Primary Care, a leading healthcare consultancy. I provide project and network management to Primary Care Networks and consulting support to clinical leads. To date, I've worked with 11 Training Hubs and supported over 50 Primary Care Networks and 3 GP Federations.  I understand and appreciate the complexity of healthcare and what it takes to deliver projects across multiple practices.  I have over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sector and have an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare. I'm also published in the London Journal of Primary Care and the author of over 250 Blogs    For more weekly insights and advice sign up to my newsletter.  Improving the Business of Healthcare – One Episode at a Time     Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Business of Healthcare Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe, leave your honest review, and share your favourite episodes on social media. Find us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn or visit our website – THC Primary Care.     

We're back with a bonus episode of Nursing Down Under – The Podcast (Season 2). Our host and journalist Kate Creedon is joined by the Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network team. Part of New South Wales Health, Justice Health provides care to those in the criminal justice system, juvenile detainees, and those within the forensic mental health system. In this episode, Kate is joined by Acting Chief Executive at Justice Health, Wendy Hoey; Director of Nursing at Justice Health, Paul Grimmond, and two of our Registered Nurses Shauna Costello and Marina Kelly who both work for Justice Health. Wendy and Paul talk about the career and education opportunities Justice Health offers whilst Shauna and Marina share their working experience with the Network.

On Tuesday May 31st at Noon the National Traveller Mental Health Network are holding a protest outside the Dáil. Joining us to discuss the reasons for the protest and why we need feet on the streets are Chairperson of the Network, Mags Casey and Traveller Activist, Rose Marie Maughan. We discuss the tragic reality behind the shocking mental health statistics for the Traveller community and why it is unacceptable that plans and reports to address this remain largely unimplemented. Please do come out Tuesday and or let your local TD that this has to stop.

Warning Suicide Discussed - Reaching out for, and to give, support can be very helpful.

— When a child or teen is struggling with autism or their mental health, it impacts the entire family. That's why Meliora Health takes a family-first care approach to support your child's—and your family's—wellness journey. Their innovative online platform delivers immediate support and gives your entire family access to expert-led help whenever and wherever you need it, allowing your family to move forward together. As part of the UK's Healios Group, they've helped thousands of families struggling with mental health and neurodiverse conditions, and they can help yours too. Valeria Interviews Rich Andrews  — He Is The Founder And CEO Of Healios (UK) And Meliora Health (USA). Having close family and friends who've suffered from mental health conditions and dementia, Rich experienced first-hand the challenge of accessing support for both those affected by the condition and the families involved. In 2013, he founded Healios to tackle the global inequality of healthcare provision affecting over one billion people worldwide with mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.  His passion for combining overall wellbeing, science and technology has led him to develop innovative services that optimize the ‘human touch' in the delivery of care to empower people and their families to live healthier and happier lives. This has led Healios to become the digital leader in the delivery of specialist mental health and neurodiverse clinical services for children and young people. Healios has now expanded into the US, with its US subsidiary operations under the brand name Meliora Health.   Prior to founding Healios, Rich gained knowledge and experience of global healthcare environments and health inequalities from an international career spanning over a decade working in biotech companies. Rich is a Board member of the Mental Health Network at the UK's NHS Confederation and co-chairs their national Digital Mental Health Forum. He is also an avid investor in start-up businesses that have a clear societal impact.  To learn more about Rich Andrews and his work, please visit: meliora-health.com and healios.org.uk    — This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life through the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.  

ADIBE Network is an Adventist community of mental health professionals and coaches. They receive online training before going out and helping others with their thoughts and feelings, treating depression and anxiety. Close to 1,000 people have gone through Jennifer's training program as of May 2022, dozens of active providers (both professionals and lay members) are helping those in need. God gave her this idea when multiple training requests came in from lay people, and she was reminded of other powerful examples in Zimbabwe and India where non-professionals get trained to treat mental illness in their local communities. Jennifer mentions Dr. Dixon Chibanda's TED Talk during this episode. You can watch the full talk here. Connect with ABIDE:The WebsiteThe ShopFacebook Group Connect with Jennifer Schwirzer:The WebsiteThe BlogContact Form

Philip Ross, the Chairman of the Design in Mental Health Network, based in the United Kingdom, talks about the importance of improving clinical standards for safety, thereby preventing suicide in health care facilities.

Supporting your anxious child In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%. This episode explores anxiety in children, the key signs to look out for, and where to go for help plus strategies parents and carers can put in place to prevent anxiety in children. We are delighted to welcome back Anne-Marie Harrison from Ideas Afresh Education and Professor Sean Duggan, Clinical Advisor for Witherslack Group and chief executive of the Mental Health Network to the podcast. We hope you enjoy listening

Warning Suicide Discussed - Reaching out for, and to give, support can be very helpful.

In a wide-ranging conversation Sean Duggan, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Network at NHS Confederation, and Melanie Walker, Chief Executive of Devon Partnership NHS Trust, take a detailed look at provider collaboratives and the fundamental role they play in integrated care systems. With a particular focus on mental health, they draw attention to the need for early intervention and investment to strengthen services to ensure that there is parity of esteem with physical health. The main opportunity they cite is that if you're getting mental health provision right, then you're in a much better position to alleviate pressures in other areas of your ICS.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy discuss mental health in China with George Hu, a Shanghai-based clinical psychologist who serves as president of the Shanghai International Mental Health Association and leads the United Family Mental Health Network. George describes how American ideas of psychiatry and psychology have shaped the way Chinese mental health professionals understand mental wellness and mental distress, resulting in the importation of approaches to diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders that may not always be the best fit with China's cultural, sociological, and historical realities.5:14: – Trying to assess the scale of mental illness in China9:45 – How mental health is diagnosed and classified in China19:00 – Mental health and the extraordinary competitiveness of life in China28:09 – The growing focus on the intersection between culture and mental health in China37:21 – Issues faced by American students in China 46:17 – Mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic50:42 – Bicultural therapyA transcript of this interview is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake George: Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan WattersKaiser: Awakening from Dukkha from the Inner Mongolian band Nine TreasuresSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Psych Matters,  Members of the RANZCP Military, Veterans and Emergency Services Personnel Mental Health Network engage in a lively discussion of how to improve assessment of current serving members and ex-serving veterans of the Australian Defence Force. This includes conducting a tailored history-taking process that includes specific aspects of service and transition to civilian life. Practical guidance for clinicians on specific details to consider and address during assessment is covered. Comorbid conditions, chronic pain and the needs of both women and older veterans are also discussed.Speakers: Dr Wallace was appointed to his current position as psychiatrist at the Australian Defence Force Centre for Mental Health, at HMAS Penguin, Sydney, in 2010. In March 2018, he was appointed as the inaugural chairman of the RANZCP Military and Veterans' Mental Health Network and is now a member of the RANZCP Military, Veterans and Emergency Services Personnel Network Committee. He has been a Visiting Medical Officer at St John of God Hospital, North Richmond since 2015 and is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of NSW.Lieutenant Colonel Diana McKay is a fulltime psychiatrist in the Australian Army.  She has worked in public and private civilian practice as an adult psychiatrist, with special interest in trauma and anxiety disorders, perinatal psychiatry and clinical education.  She is a member of the RANZCP Military, Veterans' and Emergency Services Personnel Mental Health Network Committee.  She is Honorary Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences at Macquarie University. Dr Tom Turvey is a senior advanced trainee in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry. He has an interest in matters of military psychiatry which  stems from his Father and his 7 siblings all being military and having spent the last 2 years being specifically involved and trained in military psychiatry. Tom is a member of the RANZCP Military Veterans and Emergency Services Personnel Network and a member of the Australian Military Medicine Association.Resources:Wallace D, Lane J, Heffernan K, Nas Jones C. Australian military and veterans' mental health care: improving assessment of military personnel and veterans. Australasian Psychiatry. 2021 Apr;29(2):153-6.Lane J and Wallace D. Australian Military and Veteran's Mental Health Care, Part 1: An Introduction to Cultural Essentials for Clinicians. Australasian Psychiatry 2020: 28 (3), 267-269. Shepard B. A war of nerves: Soldiers and psychiatrists in the twentieth century. Harvard University Press; 2001.Phoenix Australia's 2020 Australian Guidelines for the Management of PTSD and CPTSDFeedback:If you have a topic suggestion or would like to participate in a future episode of Psych Matters, we'd love to hear from you.Please contact us by email at: psychmatters.feedback@ranzcp.orgDisclaimer: This podcast is provided to you for information purposes only and to provide a broad public understanding of various mental health topics.  The podcast may represent the views of the author and not necessarily the views of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists ('RANZCP'). The podcast is not to be relied upon as medical advice, or as a substitute for medical advice, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship and should not be a substitute for individual clinical judgement.  By accessing The RANZCP's podcasts you also agree to the full terms and conditions of the RANZCP's Website. Expert mental health information and finding a psychiatrist in Australian or New Zealand is available on the RANZCP's Your Health In Mind Website.

The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, Kevin Stewart MSP, officially launched a recovery conversation cafe toolkit for organisations and services. Developed by the Scottish Recovery Network, the toolkit provides a guide and resources to help people engage in meaningful discussions about what is important to them and their communities. We spoke to Ann Jones, Manager of the Mental Health Network, Greater Glasgow & Clyde about the cafes - what they are, how they work and what they achieve. Contact Ann at: ann@mhngg.org.uk Transcript of episode. Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Today's podcast is a conversation about Attachment Theory with Dr Sarah Ashton. This chat may help you to identify why you are, the way you are in romantic relationships and why your partner is the way they are!

A podcast discussion between Professor Sean Duggan, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Network and Catherine Roche, CEO of Place2BE.  The session provides practical advice for supporting a child's mental health following the pandemic.  It also offers signposting for parents and carers who are looking for additional support.    

At Companies House, we are dedicated to being an inclusive, innovative and welcoming employer, one that supports people and encourages them to ‘find their passion' by developing their skills and careers. But don't just take our word for it. In this podcast you can hear from Martyn Flynn, Head of Resourcing at Companies House, in which he talks about the unique culture at Companies House and the importance of diversity and inclusion. Over the next few weeks, in our new series of features, we will also be showcasing some of our fantastic employees, who will reflect on their career at Companies House and how they have been able to find their passion.  Transcript Megan Hayward: Hello and welcome to “Meet the team” by Companies House. Today, I am joined by Martin Flynn, Head of Resourcing, at Companies House. We are going to be discussing diversity and inclusion today, which I'm really excited about. This is an opportunity for us to celebrate our achievements in this space and share what we're doing as an organisation. I think having a sense of belonging, being able to be your authentic self, and feeling you have a voice are vital for all inclusion. So, on that note, hello Martin and welcome. How are you?   Martin Flynn: Yeah, great. Thank you, Meg. How are you?   MH: Yes, good. Thank you. Not too bad. So obviously just a note for the listeners we are recording this remotely. So, fingers crossed, it all goes well. Bear with us.   MF: Technology, fingers crossed.   MH: Yeah, so my first question is, what is diversity and inclusion and what does it mean to us as an organisation? And could you speak a bit about our D&I ambition?   MF: Yeah. Sure. That's a good question. I think for Companies House diversity is really about understanding that each individual is really kind of unique and that we do recognize those individual differences. So, these can both be visible and invisible and along the dimensions of things such as gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, age, physical abilities, for example. So, these differences mean everyone brings something different to our organisation. Different life experiences, skill sets, thoughts, ideas, innovation. So, it's really important that we recognize, respect, and value these in a safe and positive environment. Ultimately, it's about understanding each other. I suppose celebrating and welcoming these differences that each individual has. Inclusion then is all about having a sense of belonging. You know where the different groups or individuals with these differences are then accepted, welcomed, and treated fairly, and equally. So, if you have an inclusive culture, it makes the individual or the group of people feel valued, feel kind of respected for who they are. This for Companies House is for all people to just feel comfortable, and confident to bring their whole and brilliant selves to work. So, we want everyone to feel that they are respected, and that they are treated fairly and this means that then everyone has the opportunity to perform to their full extent of their potential, they are rewarded fairly, and they're recognised for the contribution that they make to Companies House. But it is also important that our diversity reflects the communities and the citizens that we serve so that we can better understand them and serve them as well.   MH: Yeah, absolutely. That was a very good answer, I must say. So, we've launched a campaign this week which will showcase our brilliant D&I networks. And I know that you've got a personal passion for these and supporting our diverse colleagues. So, would you mind sharing a bit of your own D&I story?   MF: No, not at all. Yeah, you're right. I am really passionate and proud of the great networks that we have here Companies House. When I talked about inclusion, I suppose a sense of belonging. You know, obviously inclusion networks have really helped to bring our people together and create those safe environments. So for example, you've got a Chic Network for our LGBTQ colleagues. There's a Carers Network, a Working Families Network, a Women's Network. We've just launched our new FACE Network. So that's celebrating, let me get that right now, Faith, Allyship, Culture, and Ethnicity. And a Mental Health Network as well. That's just to name a few.   I suppose these of all really helped especially through the current situation in really providing that support and resource for our colleagues that allows a safe space to talk which really helps with well-being, promoting improved mental health, which is all really important. Our networks are really thriving. I think some of our most powerful stories in many ways is how we use our allies for the networks. So, we've got male colleagues who are really active in the Menopause Women's Network, for example. We've got colleagues who maybe just have an interest in other networks through their own personal experiences or maybe for just having an interest or passion for. And it's these allies that can really be I suppose our change agent for a really diverse, I can really say in inclusion, remove barriers and stereotypes that may then kind of exist. Personally, I'm involved in several networks. But I also act as kind of an ally. But I also helped to form our Ability Network. So, this was set up to support colleagues with visible and non-visible disabilities. To really help create a supportive environment where those colleagues can feel confident talking and declaring to their managers that they've got a disability. They can also also talk freely and network in open. Open to talk with us as well.   So, I've got Crohn's disease and that's a chronic kind of lifelong condition that affects my digestive system. So, in the past this has resulted in quite a lot of surgery. I've had to make some personal changes in my life to make to manage the condition. However, it is an invisible disability. So, if you were to look at me, you'd think there's absolutely nothing wrong with me. I look fine from the outside. However inside I might be in pain, I could be having a flare-up can, can be just really fatigued. So it's important for me that my colleagues as well as my team understand my condition and the side effects that the medication can bring so that maybe if one day I'm not quite on the ball, or I'm really tired, you know, they would kind of understand why. No, go on, sorry.   MH:  No, I was just gonna say, I love that it's the Ability Network, not the disability network.  And I think why we are so different to other employers. Like you said about having Crohn's. It's something with other employers, you'd write it on a form as soon as you start with the business or the company and then that's it. And then it's never spoken about again. It's not made visible. There's no way to make it visible to your colleagues and that can be really difficult for that person.   MF: Yeah, exactly. I think that's why we set up the network. We want our colleagues to understand everyone's ability not a disability. You know what it is that they can bring to that organisation regardless if they have a visible or invisible disability. So, if we can create that kind of environment, where people are you know fully understanding it would allow them to perform at their best, you know, really flourish and hopefully in an environment that is free from discrimination or harassment.   MH: Absolutely. I remember, it was like within my first few weeks and I had a meeting with Amy Harcombe and she was like, you should join the Women's Network. I was like, what is this? That sounds amazing. Absolutely. I go along to as many meetings as I can, and I come out of them just feeling so proud and they're so uplifting. You could almost never think that would be within a workplace. It's amazing. So, my next question, is. Or, not so much a question, it is a question or not a question the way I see it, which could be quite a naive view. I personally don't know anybody who purposely discriminates or doesn't try to be inclusive but I'm also really aware of unconscious bias. And I know that this is an area that you're quite passionate and interested in. So, can you chat a little bit about that? Because I think that's really important to be made aware of.   MF: Yeah, definitely and you're right. It is some of this that is important to be aware of and you know, I think personally I would challenge anyone or somebody who maybe says that they don't have any unconscious biases. You know, everyone does hold some unconscious biases or beliefs about maybe various social identity groups, you know, and these can cause us to make decisions, you know in favour of one person or another group over another. You know, it's really important for organisations to work hard to educate their people on unconscious bias and to help adjust, I suppose, you know, automatic patterns of thinking. Maybe trying to eliminate that discriminatory behaviours. Unconscious bias can be a huge setback in creating a truly diverse and inclusive workplace and these biases can impact on recruitment, promotion, I suppose equal opportunities for everyone. So, yeah. Now this one example is that there is one called the halo effect. So, this is where people who think maybe highly of an individual in a certain way and likely to think highly of them in other ways. So, for example, if we think that someone is good-looking, we may well think that they are intelligence and charismatic, for example. So, you know as managers and leaders we've got to be wary of as we're generalizing a colleague's performance based on one specific characteristic of their personality or appearance. But then you have the opposite effect, which is called the horn effective then. So maybe just because somebody made a mistake once doesn't mean that they're then incapable of improving again. Other examples are gender bias or similarity bias. On an individual level, I suppose it's important to firstly understand what unconscious biases are and then assess which biases are likely to affect you. I suppose try and figure out which of these individual perceptions are the most likely to be kind of governed by your unconscious biases and then when you know that information you can then take some really personal proactive steps to address them on a personal basis then.   MH: Yeah, that last thing you said then, that's the thing that struck me is that it's unconscious. You've got to challenge yourself. It's got to come from within and that's another thing that I think that we do so well in Companies House is that we're encouraged to look at ourselves because that is the only way that we're going to improve. And it's not it's not a destination, it's continuing, you always get better. If you think, oh no, I'm there that then you're already wrong really because it's something that you've got continue to improve on forever.   MF: Yeah, it is. It's about challenging yourself and then, you know, maybe challenging other people as well then. I think that's one of our behaviours. We have got three behaviours which are, Adaptable, Bold and Curious. But one of those ones are you know about being Curious. It's about challenging yourself and learning about yourself as well. But also, that bold side of, you know, not being afraid to challenge in a safe way and a professional way, but to challenge others as well. If you were maybe to see another potential unconscious biases happen, if you spot something that you thought could potentially be that or unacceptable behaviour. You know, and as an organisation, we are challenging ourselves. So, we've got a public target to increase applications from underrepresented groups, for example. You know, we know that it's important to us to make sure that we are getting new applications from different groups into the organisation to make sure that we can try and recruit those people into the organisation as well then. So, we challenged and made a public target of that to really set ourselves, you know, I suppose set ourselves apart a little bit. You know what we're not that diverse. If you were to look at it from the from the inside. However, we're aware of that. So, we're going to challenge ourselves to make sure we have great networks, we have an inclusive culture, we have an environment that is free from discrimination. People are aware of unconscious biases and people are aware of the benefits of having a diverse workforce. To make sure that we can bring you know, a whole diverse range of people into the organisation because that's only going to be good for us as a business.   MH: Definitely, hundred percent. So, for my last question. Please can you speak a little bit about how we've supported colleagues during the coronavirus pandemic. I know accessibility for colleagues and customers has been a key priority for us all.   MF: So, I suppose the situation has brought out the community spirit between our colleagues.  And I did have the support from the very top down and the organisation has been really amazing. You know, we've moved from having everybody working across our four offices with a smattering of flexible working for the majority of colleagues working at home and I suppose the collaboration that went on between colleagues to make this happen and to ensure that our people were first and foremost safe and well was fantastic to see. I know nobody could have really planned for this at all. You know, it's that the whole world went into lockdown overnight and the knock-on effects this is had is really unprecedented.   MH: Yeah   MF: It's really important that we you know; we kept our services opening for our customers as well. So, you know, we kept small teams of volunteer staff in our offices. Obviously ensuring that this was safe to do and we're following the right protocols and guidelines so that we could still deal with keeping the registry up to date and some of our services, that we may be couldn't do digitally. It has been really important for us to ensure that we still stay connected. You know, our colleagues can still have that sense of belonging I talked about. And that's both in a professional work capacity and also in a personal capacity. We are real human at the end of the day. We need those connections. We need to talk. We need to collaborate and that then helps us I suppose enjoy our jobs and get that job satisfaction and enjoy the work that we do. And from someone that was shielding for five months, you know, that support was invaluable for me. I suppose in terms of, you asked about accessibility. I mean, accessibility has been a priority for us as an organisation. As with or without the pandemic. For our colleagues, it is about making sure that everyone has access to the same opportunities, the same benefits, regardless of their differences. And for our customers, it is about really understanding them. Ensuring that access to our service isn't a one shoe fits all approach and that we are able to maintain as was our services and still give great customer service.   MH: Wow. Thank you so much, Martin. That concludes my questions for today. So, thank you again so much for agreeing to come on and chatting. I've learnt so much and I'm pleased with the insight you've provided to our listeners. You've been a star. Martyn and Meg discuss D&I at Companies House. Inclusion is a golden thread that runs through all Companies House activity, and we will find ways to embed diversity in everything we do. Our ambition is to build an inclusive, positive culture where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, facilitating retention of motivated, high performing colleagues. It is also critical for us as a business that we work to reflect the diversity of our customers through our own diversity.  Goodbye. Bye Martin.   MF: Bye, thanks Meg.

What will a ‘Place' look like? What will this new layer of the NHS mean in practice and what decision-making powers will Place leaders have?As the NHS starts its journey towards an integrated future, Dr Steven Michael OBE (Chair of East Cheshire Partnership) joins Tom Clarke (Director, Mtech Access)  to talk ‘Place', ‘Partnership', 'Collaboratives' and more.The UK Government's Health and Care White Paper, along with other recent policy announcements, set out a major proposed reorganisation of the NHS in England. This includes the introduction of the term ‘Place', a localised function within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). There is still much uncertainty, even within the NHS, about what this term and others like ‘Collaborative' will mean in practice.In this episode, Tom and Steven discuss what these new structures mean, how they may affect the patient experience, how they will impact decision-making and what they could mean for pharmaceutical and medtech market access.Dr Steven Michael OBE has over 20 years of experience in the NHS. He began his career as a registered nurse working in psychiatric intensive care in 1985, before rising through various management and leadership roles to be CEO of a South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT between 2007 and 2016. He has since contributed to or chaired a number of NHS boards, including the NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network, Spectrum Community Health CIC and East Cheshire Partnership.This episode was first broadcast as a live webinar on 30th April 2021. 

Hello friends! Today we have a very insightful and important conversation to share with you all. We are delighted to have Dr Sarah Ashton (psychologist, founder + director of SHIPS psychology in Melbourne) on this episode, who answers some of our listener questions around 'How to know if you're enjoying sex'. Sarah has presented her research on pornography at Australian and international conferences, is a published author in prestigious journals, regularly writes articles for The Conversation, and has stared as a guest on Podcasts Sex Bi The Bi, ABC radio, Triple J - The Hook Up, Equity Mates podcast Meet Pay Love, and Ladies We Need to Talk. She is also the Coordinator for the Victorian Sexual and Mental Health Network. Sarah sees reducing shame around sexuality as her personal and professional purpose.Sarah shares her insight into sex and intimacy and we hope that this conversation normalises some of the questions and fears we may have around sex and intimacy. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Kat + AimeeSHIPS website: https://www.shipspsychology.com.au/dr-sarah-ashtonSHIPS instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/shipspsychology/?hl=enThe Psychology Sisters Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepsychologysisters/?hl=enThe Psych Collaborative website: https://thepsychcollaborative.com.auThe Psych Collaborative instagram https://www.instagram.com/thepsychcollaborative/n.b this episode is for informational purposes only and does not replace personalised psychological advice. Lifeline: 13 11 14 

Welcome to The Barrier Breakdown: Disrupting Mental Health!  This week our guest is Dr. Samuel Chawner, a research fellow from Cardiff University's Center for Human Developmental Science. His reasearch integrates genetics and psychology to provide new insights into child development and autism. Rather than disgnosing autism purely on symptoms, Dr. Chawner's studies use genetic testing to produce a more inclusive diagnostic procedure that aims to help individuals who don't meet the criteria for autism but still need help. We also discuss the effects of Covid-19 in Europe and the UK, as well as some of the differences between the US healthcare system and the European model.  You can find Dr. Chawner's Cardiff University staff page as well as links to his publications here: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/2422703-  His work with the Genes to Mental Health Network, where he is a Co-Investigator on Project 2, is also available here: https://genes2mentalhealth.com/  All our upcoming continuing education events can be found at www.cbicenterforeducation.com  You can watch or listen to The Barrier Breakdown on any of the following streaming services: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyc6xZzY7ra3L5pI2g5GKrw   Podbean - https://cbi.podbean.com Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2ETgUdDykWN96Tv26PWyZ2   Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-barrier-breakdown-disrupting-mental-health/id1546097545   Follow us on social media: CBI: https://www.facebook.com/CognitiveBehaviorInstitute  Center for Ed: https://www.facebook.com/CBIcenterforeducation  Instagram: @cognitivebehaviorinstitute  Twitter: @CBI_Pittsburgh :::::::::::::::::::: Music: Basic Majesty - Ashley Shadow Support by RFM - NCM: https://youtu.be/XVwlTTMgw5c   ::::::::::::::::::::

In the UK, we are currently in the midst of our third lockdown since the pandemic began, and there has been a huge surge in people experiencing mental distress, anxiety and depression during the past year. The novelty of the first lockdown, in which people optimistically took up a variety of new activities, such as learning a language or baking endless loaves of banana bread, has long worn off, and many people now feel like they've used up their “coping resources”. Confusing public health messaging has led to great uncertainty, a feeling that we're having to put our lives on hold, and dwindling hope. In this week's episode, we discuss the difficulty of measuring the mental health impact of the pandemic, and how other issues (such as financial strain or bereavement) may cause long-term mental health problems. We also talk about loneliness: how to approach the subject with our patients, and the role that social prescribing may play in tackling it. Our guests; Daisy Fancourt is an associate professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at UCL. She is the lead researcher on the COVID-19 social study, (https://www.covidsocialstudy.org/) which looks at the psychological and societal impact of the pandemic, and she is also the director of the COVID-Minds Network (https://www.covidminds.org/). Dr. Farhana Mann is a psychiatrist in London and Wellcome Clinical Research Fellow at the Division of Psychiatry, UCL. She has been on the government advisory group on tackling loneliness, and is part of the UKRI Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Network, led by UCL. Additional resources/further reading: 'A life less lonely: the state of the art in interventions to reduce loneliness in people with mental health problems' https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-017-1392-y 'Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional results from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study' https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7513993/ 'Understanding loneliness in the twenty-first century: an update on correlates, risk factors, and potential solutions' Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (2020) 55:793–810 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01889-7 UCL Network is @ucl_loneliness on Twitter, and they are a good place to start if looking for updates on the field. People are very welcome to get in touch via the website too: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/loneliness-and-social-isolation

Season five of our podcast continues with another presentation from our 2020 annual conference: ‘Engaged Phenomenology’ Online. This episode features Francesca Brencio who was one of three speakers (along with Prisca Bauer and Valeria Bizzari and Francesca Brencio) on the preconstituted panel “Engaging phenomenology in the neurosciences”. Bauer and Bizzari’s presentations feature in episodes #92 and #93 of the BSP Podcast respectively. Brencio, from the University of Seville, concludes this triad of papers.   ABSTRACT: In the history of neurosciences, phenomenology arrived pretty late as a method able to enhance the understanding of neurological conditions. While psychiatry and psychology recognised the contribution of the phenomenological method at the beginning of XX century, other branches of neurosciences (neurology, neuropsychology, etc.) are still not including this approach, affirming that the investigation of the brain’s neuronal states can be understood only through third-person perspectives and that the subject’s experience is not necessary in order to understand clinical conditions and psychopathological phenomena, since memory, behaviour, perception and consciousness can be explained through a purely biological approach. This paper aims to propose a paradigm shift and to challenge neurosciences to bridge the gap between brain and experience. This contribution is articulated in two parts:  in the first one, I will briefly rebuild the origin of this methodological gap in order to show how the implications of this approach affect contemporary understanding and treatment of neurological conditions and neurodiversity. Techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Electroencephalogram (EEG) measure brain activity in response to sensorimotor, cognitive, affective or social stimuli or tasks, and many have tried to find brain correlates of neuropsychological conditions. However, recent findings show that causes or risks of mental disorders may operate at many levels, including genetic and neural elements of course, but also individual, family and social environments, that can be grouped under the item “experience”. In the second part, I will propose how to bridge the gap with an interpretative hypothesis aimed to show how the brain is part of a more complex system of elements in which human being is situated, involved and embedded. The 4E approach, as the most recent result of phenomenological adjustment to neurosciences, and the systemic approach stress the need of understanding the mental life of people and their life circumstances in a non-reductionist view. We will see how there is a bidirectional way to understand the link between brain and experience: mental disorders cannot be reduced only to brain dysfunctions and brain disorders cannot be caused by abnormal mental experience.   BIO: Francesca Brencio is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Seville, Convener and Instructor at the Pheno-Lab, a theoretical laboratory on Philosophy and Mental Health at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the University Hospital in Freiburg and Member of The Phenomenology and Mental Health Network, The Collaborating Centre for Values-Based Practice in Health and Social Care, Catherine’s College, University of Oxford (UK). Her field of research is mainly related to Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Psychiatry and Philosophy of religion.   This presentation is part of a preconstituted panel with Prisca Bauer, Valeria Bizzari, and Francesca Brencio. “Engaging phenomenology in the neurosciences”: Before becoming a subject of study in philosophy classes, phenomenology is the method that underpins all of science. Husserl conceived phenomenology as an a priori science of essences, but it has developed through other important authors during the beginning and first half of XX century (Gallagher & Zahavi, 2012; Moran, 2000; Zahavi, 2003). Engaging phenomenology in the contemporary scenario means embracing the legacy of the classics and also exploring its potential for different fields of knowledge, such as politics, public space, health. Phenomenology is a methodical effort to describe the basic structures inherent to conscious experience, such as embodiment, spatiality, temporality, intentionality, intersubjectivity, and to analyse their possible deviations and derailments (Fuchs, 2002). In recent years phenomenological approaches contributed to psychiatry and psychopathology by providing novel theoretical frameworks (Sass, Parnas, & Zahavi, 2011) and defining the subjective essence of experience more clearly. The aim of this panel is to explore how the phenomenological method can contribute to neurosciences through three different areas of research: to bridge the gap between the brain and lived experience allowing to understand mental disorders as not merely reducible to brain dysfunctions and brain disorders as consequence of abnormal mental experience; to offer a multidisciplinary account of autism, linking the role of the body and intercorporeality with recent findings in philosophy of neuroscience under the predictive brain hypothesis; and to improve care in people with epilepsy by implementing the neurophenomenological paradigm through systematic interviews, which allow people with epilepsy to recognise subjective seizure “warning signs”. The aim of the panel is to present findings already recognised by the scientific and academic community, and to go a step further by showing the necessity of a paradigm shift capable of improving the understanding and treatment of neurological conditions and neurodiversity.   This recording is taken from the BSP Annual Conference 2020 Online: 'Engaged Phenomenology'. Organised with the University of Exeter and sponsored by Egenis and the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health. BSP2020AC was held online this year due to global concerns about the Coronavirus pandemic. For the conference our speakers recorded videos, our keynotes presented live over Zoom, and we also recorded some interviews online as well. Podcast episodes from BSP2020AC are soundtracks of those videos where we and the presenters feel the audio works as a standalone: https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/bsp-annual-conference-2020/   You can check out our forthcoming events here: https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/events/ The British Society for Phenomenology is a not-for-profit organisation set up with the intention of promoting research and awareness in the field of Phenomenology and other cognate arms of philosophical thought. Currently, the society accomplishes these aims through its journal, events, and podcast. Why not find out more, join the society, and subscribe to our journal the JBSP? https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/

A podcast discussion with Professor Sean Duggan, Clinical Advisor for Witherslack Group and Chief Executive of the Mental Health Network and Billy Smallwood, Clinical Director for Witherslack Group. This podcast is part of Supporting Leaders in Education series.

Episode 27. Wendy Marie Ingram is the Founder and Executive Director at Dragonfly Mental Health. She did her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley and a postdoc at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

The BSP Podcast turns to a paper from Francesca Brencio, University of Seville, Spain. The recording is taken from our 2019 Annual Conference, ‘The Theory and Practice of Phenomenology’.   ABSTRACT: Phenomenology has recently contributed to illuminate medicine and in setting up different theoretical frameworks. The scope of applying phenomenology to healthcare is not to select symptoms in view of a nosographical diagnosis, rather is to recover the underlying characteristic modification that keeps the manifold of phenomena meaningfully interconnected in the life-world of the person. This contribution intends to show how the phenomenological method applied to psychiatry implies a new understanding of psychopathological phenomena, conceived as a coherent way of being in the world, and its peculiarities lie in recovering the underlying characteristic modification that keeps the manifold of phenomena meaningfully interconnected in the life-world of the person, in describing and understanding the inner experience of a human being, of its suffering and also the limitation of its freedom. In doing so, what is required is a radical move away from an “objective” body-orientated psychiatry which is grounded on the idea of fixing something broken instead of understanding why existence itself can collapse and loose its meanings. Advances in philosophy and neuroscience have suggested that mental symptoms are not ‘things’, rather they have a wider, deeper, personal, and cultural sense and a fluidity that may not be reduced to the taxonomy used in relation to the organic dimensions of disorders. Patient’s existence (as well as clinicians’ one) is embodied (physically) and embedded (socially and culturally) and psychopathological phenomena are specific ways of this embodiment and embeddedness. This means that we cannot simply classify them as something that happen to an objective body, a purely physiological condition that is explainable entirely in causal or mechanistic terms. A phenomenologically-informed psychiatry can “fill the gap” between clinical meanings and existential ones and can overcome evidence-based approaches by finding a common language in which words can show relations and not merely signify objects.   BIO: Francesca Brencio (PhD) is Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Seville, and Member of the Phenomenology and Mental Health Network at the St Catherine’s College (University of Oxford). Her field of research is mainly related to Heidegger Studies, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Psychiatry and Philosophy of Religion. She has published in Italian, English, German and Spanish on a wide range of topics, in several collaborative book projects and philosophical and medical journals. She is one of the invited contributors to the The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology (OUP, 2019).   The ‘British Society for Phenomenology Annual Conference 2019 – the Theory and Practice of Phenomenology’ was held at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, UK, 5 – 7 September, 2019: https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/conference/   You can check out our forthcoming events here: https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/events/   The British Society for Phenomenology is a not-for-profit organisation set up with the intention of promoting research and awareness in the field of Phenomenology and other cognate arms of philosophical thought. Currently, the society accomplishes these aims through its journal, events, and podcast. Why not find out more, join the society, and subscribe to our journal the JBSP? https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/

Scott, founder and CEO of the Children's Mental Health Network discusses the importance of advocacy and connection, gives some advice to educators regarding student mental health and shares what gives him hope for the future of child and family services. You can find more about CMHN and Scott here: cmhnetwork.org

This episode of Rendering Unconscious features Karen Dougherty, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and documentary filmmaker based in Toronto. For more please visit her website: http://www.karendougherty.ca Ontario COVID-19 Mental Health Network: https://covid19therapists.com Karen Dougherty & the research of Dr. Beatrice Beebe at YouTube: https://youtu.be/rEMge2FeREw Toxic Beauty documentary: https://www.vogue.com/article/toxic-beauty-documentary Interview with Ben Hessler, co-creator of Freud series on Netflix: https://www.ipa.world/IPA/en/News/Netflix.aspx Psychology of Global Crises conference via American University of Paris, May 20-30, 2020: https://www.aup.edu/psychology-global-crises Conferences bringing together psychoanalysts, artists and shamanic practitioners: http://psychartcult.org Rendering Unconscious Podcast is hosted by psychoanalyst Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, who interviews psychoanalysts, psychologists, scholars, creative arts therapists, writers, poets, philosophers, artists and other creatives & intellectuals about their process, world events, the current state of mental health care, politics, culture, the arts & more. www.renderingunconscious.org Rendering Unconscious is also a book! Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry (2019)is available from Trapart Books: store.trapart.net/details/00000 You can support the podcast at our Patreon: www.patreon.com/vanessa23carl Rendering Unconscious podcast can be found at Spotify, iTunes, Podbean, YouTube and your other favorite podcast platforms. Visit http://www.renderingunconscious.org/about/ for links. Vanessa Sinclair, Psy.D. is an American psychoanalyst now based Stockholm, who sees clients internationally, specializing in offering quality psychoanalytic treatment remotely and online. This may be of interest for freelancers, students, people of varying abilities and those who live rurally and may not otherwise have access to psychoanalytic treatment, those who work from home, have small children, or may be homebound. This is also a useful framework for people with active lifestyles, who are constantly on the go – entrepreneurs, creatives, business people, actors, ex-pats. For those who often travel, the ability to see a high quality clinician remotely aids continuity of care. www.drvanessasinclair.net The track at the end of the episode is “Dark Moon” by Carl Abrahamsson and Vanessa Sinclair from the album "Cut to fit the mouth" available as deluxe and standard limited edition CD via Trapart Editions: https://store.trapart.net/details/00081 And digitally on Bandcamp: https://vanessasinclaircarlabrahamsson.bandcamp.com/album/cut-to-fit-the-mouth Portrait of Karen Dougherty http://www.karendougherty.ca

Keith, Camilla and David discuss the lengths they’d go to in order to raise money for charity, before talking to Sean Duggan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network. Sean discusses how public awareness of mental health has grown during his extensive career in the sector, and when we can expect parity of esteem between mental and physical health in the UK. He also talks about the role of charities in providing mental health services. Good Charity, Bad Charity is presented by Keith Davis, Camilla McGibbon and David Prest. It is produced by Dan Hardoon at Whistledown and supported by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School. Email: info@whistledown.net (mailto:info@whistledown.net) . N.B. This episode was recorded in January 2020, before the coronavirus health crisis.

Hello, and welcome to the Optimistic Advocate! The Podcast that brings you just a bit closer to recognizing your full potential as an advocate for change – yours, mine, and everyone's! I'm your host, Scott, Bryant-Comstock, and I'm CEO and founder of the https://www.cmhnetwork.org/ (Children's Mental Health Network). For the past 40 years, my journey as a mental health advocate has traveled from volunteering at a suicide and crisis center, professional roles as a therapist in an outpatient clinic, in-home family therapist, state mental health official, Board Chair for a county mental health program, and national reviewer of children's mental health systems reform efforts. As the founder of the Children's Mental Health Network (2009), I lead the Network's efforts to grow a national online forum for the exchange of ideas on how to continually improve children's mental health research, policy, and practice. This podcast features conversations with inspiring advocates who help individuals and families make positive changes in their lives and communities across the globe. The episodes typically run from 45 – 60 minutes in length, so give yourself some room to breathe and get inspired when you listen to these. Who knows this could be the gamechanger that will unleash the advocate in you. You won't regret it! I can't wait for you to join me here on the Optimistic Advocate. Remember to tell all your podcasting friends that the show is available for free in any application that supports podcasts. Go to https://theoptimisticadvocate.com/listen (theoptimisticadvocate.com/listen) and choose the podcast player of your choice. Remember, as you dive into the episodes, never forget to stay optimistic, listen attentively, have a plan, and follow through. See you on the Podcast!  

Sarah Stewart: Hello and welcome to the GDS Podcast. I’m Sarah Stewart. Today’s podcast, the final one of 2019, is a special one, it’s GDS’s Year in Review. Last year, Angus and I went through the year very methodically picking out our highlights. It was quite fun. It’s my last podcast, so I wanted to do something better than quite fun. And what’s better than quite fun? A quiz! I’m going to host a quiz!   So I’m going to be asking 24 questions about GDS, 2 for each month. Obviously, the person with the most points will win. Producer Emily is going to keep score. So let’s meet our contestants.   Contestant number one, what’s your name, what do you do and where are you from?   Laura Stevens: So my name is Laura Stevens. I’m a writer here at GDS. And I’m from a small village in Surrey called Tadworth.   Sarah Stewart: What’s Tadworth known for?   Laura Stevens: So it’s not known for very much, so I had to look this up before I came on the podcast. But it was referenced in the ‘Doomsday Book’ so it’s very old. In the ‘Doomsday Book’ it was known as having woodland worth 4 hogs. So you know, I don’t really know like what --   Sarah Stewart: What a sum!    Laura Stevens: Yeah, like I don’t really know what that equates to but I thought it was quite a fun fact.   Sarah Stewart: You don’t see hogs very much anymore.   Angus Montgomery: How many trees per hog?   Sarah Stewart: And what kind of tree?   Laura Stevens: Yeah, and what kind of hog? I mean...   Angus Montgomery: All good questions.   Sarah Stewart: And Laura, what is your specialist subject at GDS would you say?   Laura Stevens: So I would say my specialist subject would be design here at GDS. But I am wary of saying that because I know that Angus is also very into design and I feel like he may you know, show me up in this quiz and take all the design answers.    Sarah Stewart: Which is a good segue into asking contestant number two, what’s your name and where do you come from?   Angus Montgomery: Hello. I’m Angus Montgomery. I’m a Strategy Advisor and I live in Woodbridge in Suffolk.    Sarah Stewart: Woodbridge. Isn’t that where the celebrities live?    Angus Montgomery: Yeah. Well, it depends on your definition of celebrity, I suppose. So Woodbridge’s most famous son was Thomas Seckford, who was an advisor to Elizabeth I. More contemporary famous sons include Brian Eno and Charlie from Busted.   Sarah Stewart: Oh my gosh.    Laura Stevens: Is Charlie the one with the eyebrows?   Angus Montgomery: I think so, yeah. The handsome one. He did a solo career.   Sarah Stewart: Yes. Fightstar.   Angus Montgomery: That’s it, yeah.    Laura Stevens: That’s excellent Busted knowledge.   Sarah Stewart: So Angus, what’s your specialist subject at GDS?   Angus Montgomery: I don’t know, it sounds a bit creepy if I’m going to say it out loud but the people at GDS. Like I think that’s the thing that I’m most interested in, is all the people who work here and the things that they do.   Sarah Stewart: So it’s good to meet you contestants.    Angus Montgomery: Good to be here.   Sarah Stewart: I need you to press the buzzer when you have the correct answer.    Cue the tense intro music Emily, Producer Emily. Let’s do this.    In January, we recorded a podcast with the Global Digital Marketplace team. They are helping to tackle corruption – a $2.6 trillion problem. The team visited 5 countries, talking to people at state and local level. Can you name all 5 countries? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Okay. I think I’ve got this: South Africa, Malaysia, Colombia, Indonesia… I’m going to fall down on the last one!   Angus Montgomery: I think I know the last one.   Laura Stevens: What’s the last one?    Sarah Stewart: No no no no, we can’t do that.    Angus Montgomery: Oh.    Laura Stevens: Oh so do I just..?   Sarah Stewart: You’re compromising the integrity of the quiz.    Laura Stevens: Do I get a hint or do I just…?   Sarah Stewart: Here’s your clue. Its name also features in the name of its capital city. Massive clue...   The answer was Mexico.   Laura Stevens: That’s really annoying.   Sarah Stewart: Mexico City. Okay. So, I’m afraid no one can take a point from that.    Okay, next question. The first ever Services Week took place from 28th January to 1st February. It was a nationwide, cross-government event that explored how people could work together to deliver end-to-end user-focused services. Now, one of the workshops during Services Week was designed to improve online forms. It was a sell-out workshop but what was the name of that workshop? Angus.   Angus Montgomery: Was it called Formapalooza?    Sarah Stewart: Correct! One point to Angus.    Angus Montgomery: Boom.   Laura Stevens: First one on the scoreboard, you know.    Angus Montgomery: Yeah.   Sarah Stewart: Okay, moving onto February now. In February, the GDS Academy turned 5 and launched a new course – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence [AI] in Government. Can you name an example of where AI is already being used in government? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Aren’t we using it here at GDS to do supervised machine learning on GOV.UK?   Sarah Stewart: Excellent, Laura. One point.   Laura Stevens: Yes! Back in the game.   Sarah Stewart: Next question. GovWifi is a common component that we all know and love. It provides free, secure wifi in public sector buildings. It’s used 2 million times a month. We noticed that it was also being accessed through which surprising device?   Laura Stevens: Is it a device you would find in a home?   Sarah Stewart: Yes, perhaps in the home of a teenager.   Laura Stevens: PlayStation.   Sarah Stewart: Correct answer. And actually, there were 6 PlayStations that were recorded.   Angus Montgomery: Who’s brought a PlayStation in?   Sarah Stewart: I don’t know. It could be in any public sector building.    Next question. The 11th competition for the GovTech Catalyst opened in March. Technology firms were invited to apply to develop innovative solutions for a challenge submitted by Oxfordshire County Council but what was that challenge?   Laura Stevens: Was it something to do with the traffic system?    Sarah Stewart: Yes.   Laura Stevens: And driverless cars..?   Sarah Stewart: Yes! Yes! Well done. Next question.   A team, a new team was created for GOV.UK to maintain and operate the GOV.UK platform. What was the new team called? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Is it the Platform Health team?    Sarah Stewart: Correct.   Sprint is GDS’s flagship conference. In April, we announced the agenda and that we would travel to 5 locations across the UK to discuss the impact of digital transformation on public services. Name those cities. Angus.   Angus Montgomery: In order: Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leeds, Belfast and London.    Sarah Stewart: One point to Angus. I almost said Laura then.   Laura Stevens: Give me all the points.    Angus Montgomery: Shall we have a check in on the scores?   Sarah Stewart: Yeah, let’s check in on the scores. Wow. Okay. Laura’s ahead.    In April, there was an Unconference at GDS. People were invited to pitch and present on topics of their choosing. Richard Towers held a discussion on making coding more accessible to people at GDS. Which of the following is a programming language that we do not use at GDS? Ruby, Python, Node.js, Go, Java, C#, Scala. Angus.    Angus Montgomery: C#?   Sarah Stewart: Correct!   Laura Stevens: Did you know that?   Angus Montgomery: I don’t know that much about programming languages. But I’ve heard people talking about the other ones.   Sarah Stewart: Okay. Well just to say, there was a trick answer in there as well. So for those people who really know their programming, we don’t use Scala anymore but there is an old project that’s still is in Scala but it’s not maintained.    Laura Stevens: Ooh I like that, a trick question.   Sarah Stewart: Okay so this is May. GOV.UK Pay – a free and secure online payment service for government and public sector organisations – took its first payment for a service in a language other than English. For half a point, what was that language? And, for the full point, how do you say seamless integration in that language? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Welsh. I’m just going for the half point. I don’t, I don’t have the other half of it.    Angus Montgomery: Not confident?   Laura Stevens: I’m not confident. I’ve never spoken Welsh so I wouldn’t want to offend anybody. Do you have, do you know it?   Angus Montgomery: No.   Laura Stevens: I don’t know. You knew about programming languages, so I thought you might also have-   Angus Montgomery: Welsh knowledge?    Laura: Yeah, Welsh knowledge..   Angus Montgomery: The two don’t always go together.    Sarah Stewart: Okay. Well, I’ve got it written down here and I don’t want to offend anyone either. It’s been quite a good year for common components, has it not?   Angus Montgomery: It has. So, I mean, as well as GOV.UK Pay, you’ve got GOV.UK Notify, which is a great success and is used by more than half the local authorities across the UK.   Laura Stevens: Yeah. It helps them do things like sending letters, which can be really time-consuming and where mistakes can be made.   Sarah Stewart: Okay. With changing regulations affecting public sector accessibility requirements, we advised how to publish an accessibility statement but where can you find that? Angus.   Angus Montgomery: GOV.UK.   Sarah Stewart: Yes! In June, we’re halfway through.   Laura Stevens: Yeah!   Sarah Stewart: How fun.    In June, a strategy and a guide were published. What was the name of that strategy and what was the name of the guide? I need the official names, please.    Laura Stevens: I think the first one is the Government Technology Innovation Strategy then it’s ‘A Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’?   Sarah Stewart: Correct. Laura has got the full point.    In June, Kevin Cunnington, GDS’s Director General stepped down after 3 years leading the organisation. He took a new role on, at the International Government Service, and Alison Pritchard was named as Interim DG [Director General]. Can you tell me where in the world she was when she was offered the job? Angus.   Angus Montgomery: I think she was near Madagascar, wasn’t she, in the Indian Ocean?   Sarah Stewart: I...I don’t think I can accept that.   Angus Montgomery: Oh. She was on a boat in in, at sea.    Sarah Stewart: And well it...I’m going to accept Indian Ocean because she was sailing on a boat somewhere between Darwin and Christmas Island. So I would have accepted Timor Sea or the Indian Ocean.    Okay, so technically this happened in June, July was a little bit quiet.    So GDS’s step by step work on GOV.UK won a D&AD Award for Service Design. Please can you name my favourite step by step journey on GOV.UK? Angus.   Angus Montgomery: Is it Reporting Found Treasure?   Sarah Stewart: Correct!   Laura Stevens: I mean, even if I’d got in first, I would have actually been wrong. I thought it was actually Bring Your Pet to the UK.   Sarah Stewart: Where would I be bringing it from?   Laura Stevens: I don’t know. You might have bought your pet abroad.   Sarah Stewart: Oh yeah. I actually did look into dog rescue in Greece.   Laura Stevens: So you know, clearly I could have been right. But alas, it was more finding treasure.   Sarah Stewart: So what’s so good about step by step?   Laura Stevens: Well, there are now 47 live, and obviously, it’s really good that they are winning awards and everything but also they’re being, they’re really helping people. They are also helping the other parts of GOV.UK like our voice assistant work. So now you can ask your Alexa or Google Home if you want to learn to drive a car. And yeah, it's helping people where they need it.   And it’s quite like, when I spoke to Kate [Ivey-Williams] and Sam [Dub] about it, Kate was saying what motivated her is that ease to make government like, as invisible as possible. So say you’re dealing with a very distressing situation, like somebody has passed away, you don’t want to be like dealing with any government admin at that point. And so if the step by step can just give you the answers that you need and tell you very clearly, that’s a really helpful thing to do for users.   Sarah Stewart: What is your favourite step by step journey, Laura?   Laura Stevens: My favourite step by step journey is quite a boring one but I like it because I’m on the video for it. It’s How to Drive a Car. I feature saying it into a phone. Then it got screened at Sprint 18.   Sarah Stewart: Wow.   Laura Stevens: So you know, me in this jumper, it’s quite an old jumper. I didn’t really expect to be used in filming that day. It’s been immortalised.   Sarah Stewart: So if you want to have a visual picture of Laura, if you want to connect the voice to the face, watch that journey. It’s on YouTube.   In July we released, oh this is, actually, this next question could be in Laura’s advantage, just given your specialist subject for design. In July, we released new updates to the colours and font on GOV.UK. The GOV.UK colour palette is made up of 7 colours – grey, black, blue, red, yellow, green and white. Which 2 colours weren’t updated? Angus.    Angus Montgomery: Black and white?   Sarah Stewart: Correct!   Laura Stevens: That is great knowledge.   Sarah Stewart: Angus is in the lead.   Angus Montgomery: Yes!    Sarah Stewart: Wow.   Laura Stevens: Oh so I need to make a comeback?   Angus Montgomery: Yeah, Laura needs to make a comeback.   Laura Stevens: Is that because he’s got lots of half points? Trying hard but...   Sarah Stewart: He’s not committing.   Angus Montgomery: What’s that meant to mean?   Sarah Stewart: In August we talked about work we had to do following July’s reshuffle. When there is a reshuffle, GOV.UK needs to update the information as quickly as possible. True or false – the GOV.UK team knows this information before the public?   Laura Stevens: False.   Sarah Stewart: Correct. They find out at the same time as everyone else.    Laura Stevens: Yeah July...during the reshuffle in July, because it was quite like a big change and the changes were coming quite like quickly, the team really had to step up. And so that’s working late nights, making sure that GOV.UK is always like the canonical source of information.   Sarah Stewart: Yeah.    Laura Stevens: So they had to make updates to 100 individual ministers’ GOV.UK roles. They had to update ministers’ biographies. They had to add profiles to GOV.UK for people who hadn’t worked for Government before. They had to reorder the list of ministers on 22 department pages. And they had to reorder the Government Ministers page. And obviously there’s a lot of eyes on GDS, well on GOV.UK and GDS’s team, GDS’s work through that. So yeah, they did really well.   Sarah Stewart: Go team. Ok, next question.   Alison took up the role of DG [Director General] at GDS and wrote an introductory blog post sharing a little bit about her past. It’s incredibly well written. Alison has a fantastic background in public service but what was her very first job serving the public?   Angus Montgomery: I feel like I know this.   Sarah Stewart: It was in the blog post, if you read it.    Angus Montgomery: I don’t know if it was her very first job but she was Minister Responsible for Cage Fighting at one stage, wasn’t she?    Laura Stevens: That’s quite a high entry as your first job. Minister for Cage Fighting.    Angus Montgomery: Not Minister, obviously. She was a senior civil servant responsible for cage fighting in some capacity.    Laura Stevens: She was pulling pints…?   Sarah Stewart: You can’t give them clues.    Angus Montgomery: I thought you said first job in the civil service.    Sarah Stewart: No.    Angus Montgomery: Oh, first job.   Laura Stevens: No. It was first job serving the public.    Angus Montgomery: Oh so serving the public.   Laura Stevens: Is this a pun?   Sarah Stewart: Yes.    Laura Stevens: Oh!   Angus Montgomery: You’re operating on a level that I’m not!   Sarah Stewart: Yes! She was a barmaid when she was eight.    Laura Stevens: Oh. Is that...   Angus Montgomery: Is that legal?    Laura Stevens: Do we need to check in on that?    Sarah Stewart: It was…   Angus Montgomery: Do we need to check on the legality of that claim?   Laura Stevens: You need to investigate some pub wherever she grew up.   Sarah Stewart: It was her family pub and she just served soft drinks.   Sarah Stewart: Ok, so September. Plans for a new permanent secretary level Government Chief Digital Information Officer (GCDIO) were announced at Sprint. Alison said that GCDIO was a bit of a mouthful, so what was the title shortened to? Angus.   Angus Montgomery: She calls them ‘The Big G’.    Sarah Stewart: Correct. Adding that it incorporates a sense of scale and seniority for that particular post.    Mark Hurrell, the former Head of Design for GOV.UK and the Head of Graphic Design at GDS wrote the most popular blog post in Design in Government blog history. What was it about? Laura.   Laura Stevens: So I feel like I need to claw this back after Angus took my specialist subject earlier. Is it the post about the design principles posters?   Sarah Stewart: Correct. Yes, well done.   Laura Stevens: There was also a very nice… we can plug the Instagram here as well, because I believe Roger Valentine did a very nice animation about those posts as well.   Sarah Stewart: Oh.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Sarah Stewart: Great. In October, 2 members of the Sustainability Network – Emily Labram and Will Pearson – estimated the maximum amount of CO2 that GDS produces. How many tonnes of CO2 did they estimate we produced? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Was it 4,000?   Sarah Stewart: Correct!   Laura Stevens: Ah! That’s so much.   Sarah Stewart: That’s a lot but it’s an important piece of work. It’s good to know exactly what your impact is.   Laura Stevens: And is it on the blog post?   Sarah Stewart: It is. All of the details are on the blog post and how they calculated it as well.   Angus Montgomery: And where does that come from, the CO2?   Sarah Stewart: It’s things like data centres that are consuming lots of energy. Like and whether that energy is, I mean the question is whether you can have renewable energy sources to keep things like data centres up and running and...   Laura Stevens: Yeah and I think also, that blog post got a lot of comments, as well. So I think it’s something that other government departments or like arm’s length bodies, or whatever are looking into.   Sarah Stewart: Yeah cause you, yeah, I guess you think that the big culprits are fashion, oil and gas industries. Actually, everyone is sort of-   Laura Stevens: Yeah, everyone is responsible.    Sarah Stewart: Yes. In October, GOV.UK turned 7. Tell me, what was notable about the desks that the team worked on when GOV.UK was launched? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Is this from an article you wrote?    Sarah Stewart: Me? Or Secretary of State?   Laura Stevens: Sorry, sorry, the ghostwriting that doesn’t exist.   Sarah Stewart: Yeah, yeah.    Laura Stevens: Is it that they were cardboard boxes?   Sarah Stewart: Correct. Thank you for reading that by the way.   I’m going to read a quote from a GDS figure. Please can you identify the speaker, their job title and tell me what they are talking about. The quote starts, “Unlike many publishers or commercial organisations, we’re not incentivised by statistics like page views or the number of visitors. Our interest is in making sure we are where the user is,” end quote. Angus.   Angus Montgomery: That is Jen Allum, who is Head of GOV.UK, talking about, well I guess the sort of success metrics for GOV.UK. And it’s interesting what she’s saying about that, that obviously we’re not a commercial organisation, we’re an organisation that’s here to serve user needs. So the traditional kind of understanding of people, you know you want to increase the number of people coming to your site, like that’s not how we operate.   I mean it’s good to know those figures obviously. And it’s good to know who’s coming and what they are looking at and what’s getting a lot of traffic and stuff. But that’s not ultimately what motivates people and that’s not what motivates their future vision for GOV.UK, which is about serving users, helping them to do whatever it is that they need to do, regardless of whether that’s a simple thing or a complex life event.   Sarah Stewart: Perfect answer. One point.   November saw the creation of another community at GDS. GDS has got so many lovely communities. What was that community? Laura.   Laura Stevens: Was it Muslims at GDS?   Sarah Stewart: Correct! Networks are a nice thing, aren’t they?   Laura Stevens: They are.   Sarah Stewart: What’s your favourite network? What networks are you part of?   Laura Stevens: So at GDS I’m part of the Women’s Network. I’ve also recently joined the Mental Health Network because I interviewed Ben on the podcast, Ben Carpenter on the podcast last month. What about you Angus?   Angus Montgomery: I’m not a member, although I probably ought to be. But I go to quite a lot of the Women’s Network events, which are really good. I think it’s great obviously not being a woman and being able to go to these things and being part of that community.   But no, I think the good thing about the networks is, even if you are not a member, they are really visible so I’ve been to quite a few events that the LGBT Network have done as well. I just think it’s really good that, yeah they’re so active and there is so much going on.   Laura Stevens: Yeah, I think that part about being open to all is really nice. Because often you can just join them by joining the Slack channel, and that’s very, you can just be there. So if you’re joining GDS as a person who’s not been in government before or anything, you can just be like, “here’s a few friendly faces” and you don’t have to...you can be kind of as active or as inactive as you want to be as part of the network.    So what networks are you part of?   Sarah Stewart: I dip my toes into a few pools. Does that work? I mean not physiologically. Metaphorically. I’m really interested in the work that the Women’s Group do, particularly around negotiating pay rises and public speaking. But also the Mental Health Network is really valuable because it’s such an everyday thing here. Well it’s becoming more of an everyday thing here to talk about how you are feeling. And I think that in other organisations, that’s not the case. I think there is a real push to normalise talking about it, which is ultimately very healthy.   Laura Stevens: And it’s really nice that GDS can take like a leading role in that then, in setting a precedent on how that’s a good thing.   Sarah Stewart: Yeah. Okay, we’ve only got 2 questions left. We’re almost at the end. So can you tell me how many types of chocolate were tried by GDS Chocolate Club in 2019? And I should add that GDS Chocolate Club is funded by its members and is an out of hours club.    Angus Montgomery: 6.   Sarah Stewart: Laura.   Laura Stevens: I’m going to go much higher. I’m going to go like 24.    Sarah Stewart: Well you’ve both fallen short. 65 chocolates were tasted in 2019.   Angus Montgomery: Woah.    Laura Stevens: Is this the final question?   Sarah Stewart: This is the final question of the quiz. Name every person in the Creative Team who made the GDS Podcast series possible this year.   Angus Montgomery: Laura.   Laura Stevens: Angus.    Angus Montgomery: Sarah.   Sarah Stewart: Thank you.   Laura Stevens: Producer Emily.   Angus Montgomery: To give her her full title. Animator and photographer, Roger.    Laura Stevens: And we’ve got filmmaker Graham. Producer Megan Painter.   Sarah Stewart: Yeah.   Laura Stevens: Designer Charlotte.   Angus Montgomery: Couldn’t possibly forget Alastair Mogford, who not only set up this podcast but documented how we do it and wrote down a very long description which we’ve all been using now because we all forget like what the set-up is and stuff. So thank you, Alastair.   Laura Stevens: Shout out to Alastair.    And also we’ve got to shoutout to our social media star, Lou Mullan.    Angus Montgomery: And thanks obviously to Chris Watson.   Sarah Stewart: Oh wait. How do we attribute points to this?    Angus Montgomery: Everyone gets points for that.   Laura Stevens: Because it’s a team effort.    Angus Montgomery: Yes.   Sarah Stewart: Aw that’s nice. That’s the spirit, isn’t it?   Laura Stevens: Well, well done team though, because we’ve done 14 podcasts!    Angus Montgomery: Yeah!   Laura Stevens: Thanks to everyone there.    Sarah Stewart: And thank you so much to all of our listeners for your loyal support over the past year.   Ok so Emily, can you tell us, can you hand me the final scores. I’m going to announce who the winner is-   Angus Montgomery: Ah!   Laura Stevens: Drumroll.   Sarah Stewart: After I announce who the runner-up is.    Angus Montgomery: Oh.   Sarah Stewart: It was Angus.   Angus Montgomery: Yay!   Sarah Stewart: Well done.    Laura Stevens: Well done Angus.   Sarah Stewart: But today’s winner is Laura Stevens. So, your prize is 3 chocolate bars wrapped up inside a civil service lanyard.    Laura Stevens: Oh that’s very kind of you, thank you.   Sarah Stewart: So claps for..   Laura Stevens: Aww! Well, but there’s 3 so you know we can divide amongst…   Angus Montgomery: Oh, well how convenient. Apart from Producer Emily.   Laura Stevens: I tried to do that really nicely.   Angus Montgomery: There, there are actually 4 of us in the room.    Laura Stevens: I will share that out amongst all of us here.   Sarah Stewart: That’s very magnanimous of you.    Laura Stevens: Aww.   Sarah Stewart: Aww, good winner. Ok so that brings us to the end of the last podcast of 2019. How did you think it went?   Angus Montgomery: It was very challenging.    Sarah Stewart: It doesn’t sound...   Laura Stevens: But I did come out as a winner, so I mean..    Angus Montgomery: Yeah.   Laura Stevens: I feel like-   Angus Montgomery: I mean obviously I came out as a runner up, so it was more challenging for me.   Sarah Stewart: 2019 has been quite a year, hasn’t it?   Laura Stevens: Yes.   Angus Montgomery: Uh huh.   Sarah Stewart: What have your highlights been?    Angus Montgomery: Well I moved team. So I’m now on the Strategy Team, which explains why I’m not as involved in the podcasts as I was before. So yeah, that’s a highlight. But obviously being on the Creative Team was also a highlight.    Laura Stevens: Aww.   Sarah Stewart: That’s sweet. Laura, what’s your highlight been?    Laura Stevens: I’ve really liked actually getting more involved in the podcasts, which is quite an appropriate thing to say in this podcast episode.    Angus Montgomery: On the podcast..   Laura Stevens: But no I’ve spoken to really interesting people, like Kate Ivy-Williams and Sam Dub. Yeah, lots of other people as well, on the podcast.    Sarah Stewart: Great. Okay.    Laura Stevens: But what about you? What was your highlights for the year?    Sarah Stewart: Well I helped Alison with the presentation that she delivered at the Women into Leadership Conference. And we made a spoof book about Alison. It’s called ‘Alison by Alison Pritchard’.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Sarah Stewart: Because we were talking about like stories from her life and someone thought it was real.   Laura Stevens: Yes. I believe also, I’m quite surprised by this because you actually wrote in fake reviews, I believe.    Sarah Stewart: Yeah, I did reviews from ‘People’s Friend’ and ‘Time Magazine’. That was really funny, and it was a really good event as well.  So thank you to all of our listeners over 2019. It’s been quite the year in the world of the GDS Podcast, we’ve covered lots of topics. So thank you for your loyal support and lending us your ears.   Laura Stevens: And please keep listening.    Sarah Stewart: You can listen to all the episodes of the Government Digital Service Podcast on Apple Music, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms. You can read the transcripts on Podbean. Bye.   Angus Montgomery: Bye.   Laura Stevens: Bye 2019. 

In the final episode of season one, I take you to the inaugural international Violence and Abuse Mental Health Network meeting. This new network aims to provide a space for violence researchers in low and middle income countries to share their findings, apply for funding and collaborate. You will hear from the researchers themselves about their work, the challenges they face and their hopes for the network. Please be aware that sensitive topics such as domestic violence and human trafficking are discussed in detail in this episode. Support: Domestic violence: - For women: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/  0808 2000 247 National helpline (Freephone 24 hours) - For men: Men’s Advice Line 0808 801 0327 (Freephone Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) - For LGBTQ+ groups: National LGBT Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline 0800 999 5428  www.galop.org.uk/domesticabuse - Range of resources on Met Police website: https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/daa/domestic-abuse/support-helplines/ Human trafficking - Modern slavery helpline: https://www.modernslaveryhelpline.org 08000 121 700 - Unseen UK: https://www.unseenuk.org/what-we-do/Helpline-&-Resource-Centre - Spot the signs of slavery: https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/spot-the-signs-of-slavery/ Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe! Follow us on twitter for the latest updates @MendTheGapPod and let us know your thoughts on this episode using #MendingTheGap This podcast is funded by King's College London and Wellcome’s Institutional Strategic Support Fund. Katherine Saunders is funded by an NIHR Maudsley BRC PhD studentship. Music – Artist: Blue Dot Sessions, Track: Slimheart, downloaded from the Free Music Archive.

Laura Stevens: Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service podcast. My name is Laura Stevens and I’m a writer here at GDS. Today we’re speaking about mental wellbeing at GDS. We’ve chosen to highlight this now as November is Men’s Mental Health Month. But we will be talking about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace more generally today.  And to tell me more is Ben Carpenter. So please can you introduce yourself and what you do here at GDS, and your role in supporting mental wellbeing here.   Ben Carpenter: Hello. Yeah, I’m Ben Carpenter. I’m Inclusive Services Lead in the Service Design and Assurances Programme. And I co-lead the Wellbeing Working Group, and I was, before we kind of rebranded as the Wellbeing Working Group, I was lead of the Mental Health Network.   Laura Stevens: So can you tell me a bit about the GDS Mental Health Network and where it fits into the Wellbeing Group here at GDS?   Ben Carpenter: Well the Mental Health Network used to be kind of everything in the mental wellbeing space. Now that we’re expanding things to try and incorporate all aspects of wellbeing, physical and mental, the Mental Health Network in that name, really comprises basically of a Slack channel and a newsletter and of the people within the Slack channel.   That’s not to trivialise it ‘cause those things are really important, and a lot of work goes into those things, so the Q&As etc. But whereas we used to refer to GDS’s mental, GDS’s Mental Health Network as being all things mental wellbeing, I’d now say that’s more falls under the whole wellbeing banner.   Laura Stevens: So, these Q&As. These are regular anonymous peer-led mental wellbeing Q&As on Slack. And can you describe some of the topics that come up?    Ben Carpenter: We organise those around topics that staff nominate and then vote for their preference. And so the topics can just vary all the time, from Imposter Syndrome to general anxiety to dealing with heavy workloads to dealing with a lack of a heavy workload, having had you know changes in, fluctuations in workload, that’s what you say. Bereavement and loss, you know, just the full range of emotional challenges.    Laura Stevens: And how have you found people have responded to the Network?   Ben Carpenter: So it’s not my day job at all. It’s like, it should be a fraction of my time and often it takes up a big fraction of my time. But it’s a funny area to work in and on, because it’s hard to get feedback on success. So the nature of the topic, the nature of the beast is, you might not hear from people even if something’s going really well.   A good example would be the Q&As that we hold on Slack each month.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: So you have an anonymous route through, in those Q&As, to ask questions or answer questions. And you never know how many people are watching and reading, you never know how many people read the transcripts for information afterwards. So it can be very, it can be a very kind of quiet space to work in. You can, I sometimes think ‘oh god, is this work, is it worth it?’.   But when you do get feedback, it’s very very positive and. But yeah, it’s often hard to put something more tangible on that, to sort of prove value.    Yeah. Yeah, it’s just, yeah. It’s hard to know exactly what is most valuable to users but I think it’s really…by users, I always talk about us. I talk about the Network as, and the Wellbeing Group, as a service and we should think of staff here as our users. Because I firmly believe we should be a user-centred service so…   Laura Stevens: Sort of like doing the GDS principles in all aspects.   Ben Carpenter: Absolutely, yeah. I mean this more than anything right, is a, if you’re going to try and help people with their wellbeing, you should be doing it in a way that you believe to be organised around what they need.   Laura Stevens: And so yeah, a sort of more general question. Why, which might sound obvious but I think it’s good to ask it anyway, is why is it important to have a Mental Health Network and Wellbeing Group at all? What does it bring to the workplace?   Ben Carpenter: I’m not sure. You tell me.   I mean so, that was a facetious question as in ‘you tell me’. Because I always think I want the GDS staff and colleagues to say why they appreciate the network’s efforts or presence.   But we know that people with healthy wellbeing are generally more productive in their work. So on a boring sort of corporate side, you know people work better. But we’re also a human-centred organisation, I think we are. I’m a human-centred person. So I take on this work because I care about people here.    And so there’s no, to me there shouldn’t have to be any metric in terms of productivity or sort of value, ‘cause it’s just the right thing to do. I mean imagine, flip that round. Imagine a workplace where nobody thought, or took the time to organise around their staff’s wellbeing.    Now that we’re doing this work and we have things like the ‘Time to Change’ pledges and commitments that we’ve made as an organisation, and we have a bunch of people in a working group saying, “hang on, lets try and provide things that the staff need to improve their wellbeing”, it seems perverse to everything, you wouldn’t do that.   Laura Stevens: And can you talk a bit about the ‘Time to Change’ pledge that you’ve mentioned?   Ben Carpenter: I can a little bit.   Laura Stevens: Ok.   Ben Carpenter: Yep, so Alison, Director General, signed the pledge last month or the month before. So Time to Change is a charity and they help organisations like us, companies, organisations to make a stack of commitments.    So we’ve got 7 commitments under the Time to Change pledge. It covers things like, encouraging staff to be able to be frank about their mental health, training line managers to have conversations with staff about mental wellbeing, and broader wellbeing.    All Senior Civil Servants here are going to undergo, go through some training on wellbeing awareness and support. Commitments in there as well around mental health first aid.   Laura Stevens: I mean I was really interested when I was researching this to hear about the mental health first aiders. And when did they get brought in at GDS?   Ben Carpenter: Well so they, they exist in...some people brought those skills with them to GDS. Some people were able to go on mental health first aid training courses while they were here.   But what we’re doing at the moment is trying to organise that group of people, because again they’re just volunteers. These are not paid, there’s not a paid role, these are people who are volunteering to be mental health first aiders for their colleagues.   So what we’re trying to do is move away perhaps from a sort of set-up that we might have had before. It was like ‘oh, you know, that bloke over there happens to have been trained as a first aider, everyone go talk to him if they’re miserable’. And instead we’re trying to say ‘hang on, there are 800 staff here.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter:  Right, how many mental health first aiders do we need to be able to look after, or provide that kind of support, to that number of staff?’. And what we’re aiming for is 1 in 50. So for every 50 members of staff, there’s a mental health first aider.    Laura Stevens: What are they qualified to do, what are they not qualified to do and why would you go to them?   Ben Carpenter: They’re not practitioners. They are listeners, they’re confidential listeners and signposters. And as simple as that sounds, to do that in a robust and reliable way without yourself struggling too much perhaps with what you might be talking to people about, takes a couple of days training.   But yes, I think it’s really important to run that as a service, not as a thing that just happens. By which I mean, base it on what we believe that users need. Make sure it’s run in a sustainable way, you wouldn’t want to have 15 first aiders now and then you talk to me in a year, and we’ve suddenly only got 3.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: So you’ve got to know how many we need, we’ve got to have funding for that, we’ve got to be constantly making sure that we’ve got volunteers to take on those roles if needed and so on.    Laura Stevens: And how do you think, how long have you been at GDS?   Ben Carpenter: 2013...six years.    Laura Stevens: And how have you seen support for mental health change since 2013?   Ben Carpenter: Well...do you know when I was first here I probably wasn’t thinking about it very much. It was much more a sort of start-up feel, very whirlwind.   I’ve been more and more open about my own mental health as well in recent years. I mean I’ve always been pretty open about it, ‘cause I’ll talk to anyone about anything. But..   Laura Stevens: That’s how you’re on this podcast.   Ben Carpenter: Right, right. But I think I’ve also more, proudly is the wrong word, less self-consciously happy to be known for having some mental health challenges while in the workplace with my colleagues. That was probably something I would have felt less comfortable doing even in the early days at GDS. And definitely at previous organisations that I’ve worked for.    I would always have shared that sort of thing with line management or friends, but I don’t think I would have sat on a podcast saying, ‘I lead this network as best I can and I also have mental health challenges and occasionally, I’ll write about that on Slack or a blog post or something’.    So that’s something that has changed for me but I wouldn’t...I think the signing of the ‘Time to Change’ pledge is a big deal for GDS. It’s a public statement under those 7 areas. And so in terms of policy, you know the mental health first aid commitments within that are, they’re really good and they’re really big.   So it’s up to us all to actually make sure they happen.   Laura Stevens: Would there be any other things you’d like to see change here at GDS, oh, and good practices, or that you’ve seen elsewhere that you might want to bring in here?   Ben Carpenter: I’m really pleased with the direction things are going. It would, it really does just come down to people and time.   I’d say that fully user-centred approach to what we provide is something that I would like to see really properly embedded across all of our wellbeing mental health work.   And personally, I’m much less interested on working on something that I don’t know, or have good confidence, to be useful for people, my colleagues that I work with in terms of their mental health.    So I don’t want to just tick any boxes. And I don’t want to make us look nice within the Civil Service. I don’t, I’m not interested in any of that.    Laura Stevens: You don’t want to pay lip service to something.   Ben Carpenter: Right. It can sound repetitive but I think it’s really the thing that matters. So for me with wellbeing, it might be that the very best thing this organisation can do for its staff is to continue to provide places for them to talk, continue to train line managers, continue to train mental health first aiders, continue to run things like the Q&As and speaking events and make people feel, even if they never speak up and say ‘oh that was brilliant, I loved that talk’, you know, even if they’re very quiet about it or silent about it, we know that it’s valuable to staff for these things to take place.    So we don’t have to be coming up with new things.   Laura Stevens: Uh huh.   Ben Carpenter: Might just keep doing simple, quiet, useful things. Which isn’t always cool and isn’t always popular. But that’s what I like.   Laura Stevens: How would you say the mental health sort of practices here, employee wellbeing, compares to other workplaces? Or have you’ve spoken, in your work with this network, have you spoken to the other people from other workplaces and have they brought in ideas or you’ve shared ideas there?   Ben Carpenter: Lots of people are really impressed and pleased to see what GDS has set up by the way of this open spaces to be able to talk about this. And the network and the community around to support people. But the most, lots of people who come into GDS say, ‘gosh this is, this is new to me’   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: ‘This is remarkable in that, just that it exists’.   Laura Stevens: Do you think if there’s, if people are finding best practice here at GDS, is there potential for it to be shared across other government departments? Obviously if you’re involved and you go elsewhere, you can take that...   Ben Carpenter: There is a cross-government network. People do try and share ideas and approaches. We did try and pool approaches to mental health first aid provision and training and business cases to support the recruitment of people to do that, for example.   Laura Stevens: So there’s that opportunity for if stuff has been learnt here and tried and it’s found to work.   Ben Carpenter: Yes. We need to get better at blogging about what we do and what works. You know we’ve done a couple of blog posts but not enough really.    Laura Stevens:  Yeah, I saw your Slack Q&A one and...   Ben Carpenter: Yeah, wrote up that. And that was good. So I did a blog post about the Q&As that I’ve been talking about. And I’ve had 3 or 4 organisations, I’ve had meetings with since then to show them how we do, and they’ve gone off and run their own.   Laura Stevens: And how does that make you feel? Like sort of, it’s sort of out in the open now, it’s sort of being spread.   Ben Carpenter: It’s nice. Yeah it’s good.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: It’s nice. It seems such a simple idea but it’s, behind the scenes it’s surprisingly sort of complicated to make sure you’re trying to ask, field questions in a sensitive way really keep on top of them. The last thing you would want would be to miss, miss questions coming in or feel like peo-- I wouldn’t want staff here to thi--, I’d be mortified if I thought staff felt it was sort of poorly curated or was not sensitive to their needs or feelings. So.   Laura Stevens: Do you think things like the Network, the Wellbeing Group, are sort of helping encouraging people at GDS to say that’s ok to say that I have mental health, have you seen that as a response in your, anecdotally or?    Ben Carpenter: Anecdotally, yeah. Definitely anecdotally. I know that many of the comments that we see on the Slack channel, either through the Q&A sessions or just spontaneously, are people saying you know, ‘I feel so glad this network exists, I feel so glad this is something that people talk about here, I feel supported by the existence of this channel and that you guys are here piping up with this stuff and it’s not taboo, or it’s not taboo here.   Our Slack channel, I know it’s Slack it’s just Slack, but it’s the second most, it’s got the second most number of people in it of all the channels on GDS’s Slack after the community. So you know, and that’s nobody’s been forced onto there so people come in to read and listen.   Yeah, so we get...it’s another very hard thing to measure.   Laura Stevens: And can anyone on that Slack channel, if you’re part of the Slack channel, can anybody respond to anybody else or is it just if you’re part, if you’re a mental health first aider or is it just open to all?   Ben Carpenter: No, no. It’s just an open forum. So that’s why I think the anonymity of the Q&As is so valuable. So what we do with the Q&As is a 2 hour session every month. And you can post questions through an anonymous Google form in advance which I, or whoever is coordinating the session that month, would get and copy and paste them in Slack basically. Just say here’s a question and then people reply as a thread within Slack. And if they don’t want to answer the question publically either.    So we get, last time out I think there were a dozen questions, none of them posted live. So nobody wanted to ask what they wanted to ask straight into Slack with their name next to it. Maybe some of them would have if there hadn’t been an anonymous route. But if it didn’t matter, they would have done it. What’s the opposite of anonymous? Nonymous? Nonymous?    Laura Stevens: Identifiable?    Ben Carpenter: Yeah, right. They would have identified, they would be happy to be identified so. So if 12 people ask 12 questions anonymously, to me that’s a massive indicator in itself, that out of an organisation of 800 of a Slack channel of three or four hundred people, you get a dozen you know…I don’t know what, you imagine there are a dozen who do dare to ask an anonymous question.   Laura Stevens: Of course, yeah.    Ben Carpenter: There must be a whole stack more who are finding it hard.   Laura Stevens: A tip of the iceberg.   Ben Carpenter: Right, yeah. It might not be a massive iceberg but it’s still an indicator.    Laura Stevens: And do people, how do people respond like do you have to monitor the responses or do you just let people respond how they would like?   Ben Carpenter: I keep an eye on them for worrying signs, but nothing else. We never claim for it to be something of experts, it’s a peer-to-peer support thing.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.    Ben Carpenter: It was only, actually a couple of months ago, as a confession, running the Q&As and I thought it’s always been in the back of my mind, worrying that I would get a really scary message anonymously.   Laura Stevens: Of course.   Ben Carpenter: And you think, ‘oh my god, there’s somebody here who’s gonna hurt themselves or hurt someone else, or sounds really on the brink’. I’d always thought that felt like a risk of doing the Q&As. But to be honest, actually it’s only a risk of hearing about those thoughts, not a risk of creating those thoughts necessarily.   So it was only then that we suddenly jumped up and said we need to have a statement ready. So I do have, while I’m running the Q&As I’m ready with a document if I get something like that. I would copy and paste my message, this agreed comms message that we’ve agreed with comms and senior management, across all staff as an email and across all the Slack channels as a message, not just the Q&A, to say ‘if you sent this message containing this word’, so we wouldn’t share all of it just to make sure they knew we were talking to them, ‘then please contact one’, and we’d lead with 999.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: Or talk to a first aider. You know we’d give them contact options.   I mean it’s an odd, yeah it’s an odd leading a network like this and getting involved in this kind of work, I do feel a massive sense of responsibility.   Laura Stevens: Yes.   Ben Carpenter: And in a way that’s one of the things that makes me want us to do less, really well rather than take on too much. So sometimes in the network, it can be hard in the working group for all of us to find the time just to meet and just organise ourselves just to provide a few events and speakers, and get posters and you know, sell some pin badges and coffee mornings. That can be hard just...   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: Even to get to that level. So I feel like whatever we do, I want us to do it well rather than lots of things averagely.    Laura Stevens: And how are you, you said about feeling this responsibility particularly for a network that deals with things like this, how are you supported in running this?   Ben Carpenter: David Dilley is our mental health champion at GDS, a Senior Civil Service, Senior Civil Servant. Fiona James is the wellbeing champion. So I can talk to either of them whenever I like. Abby Peel co-leads the Wellbeing Working Group with me. So we work really nicely together, Abby’s brilliant. And there’s actually much more of like tour de force behind the stuff that does get done in the working group.   So I mean I’ve got my line manager, and I’ve got the first aiders and I’ve got the Q&As.    Laura Stevens: So...   Ben Carpenter: This whole thing is just therapeutic for me right.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: That’s why I’m doing this ‘cause it gives me, it’s my own private brilliant therapy network.   All the anonymous questions on the Q&As I just, are mine for example. I make them all up myself.   That’s not true, that’s not true.   Laura Stevens: So you are supported and?   Ben Carpenter: Yeah, of course, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.    Laura Stevens: And can you, you were saying, so mental health is part of the wellbeing group, can you talk a bit more about the wellbeing group, and the wellbeing, and its aims?   Ben Carpenter: So yeah, so we had the Mental Health Network which was, as the title suggests quite focused just on mental health. And I think quite rightly, particularly when Fiona joined GDS and is the senior wellbeing champion for GDS.   Laura Stevens: Is this Fiona James?    Ben Carpenter: Yes.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: Sorry, yes. You know, it’s correct I think to pull everything together in terms of wellbeing and say, because we know there’s such strong links between physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing for starters. And if we’re trying to say you know, a bit of a common tropey type phrase about mental health is, ‘well if you broke your arm you go and see the doctor, so when you’re feeling down why don’t you go…’.   You know which is a bit of an ugly comparison made in those, because they’re not comparable really but, we should be trying to bring them together so to totally normalise mental health. We’re not, nobody’s got any qualms about physical health or moaning about physical health, so lets moan about our mental health. Let's be honest about it. Let’s ask for help.   Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: So that’s the evolution of that, and I really welcome it. In many ways the discrepancy, bothering to split these things up is really just a semantic exercise a lot of the time. Ditto for, so there’s a daily meditation session, 10 minute session, happens every day anyone can go 10 minutes of peaceful reflection. That’s meditation, it’s not, it doesn’t happen on my watch right, we don’t talk about it in the Wellbeing Peer Group.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.    Ben Carpenter: But it’s everything to do, there’s a running club that takes place every, every well at least every week. I’m not sure how often they run.   Laura Stevens: No, I can’t say that I’m part of that so I don’t know.   Ben Carpenter: Mental health doesn’t all have to be about crisis. It’s just about ongoing care. Yeah, looking after yourself.    Laura Stevens: Are there any sort of tips you can give me to create a better workplace for mental health, for employee wellbeing?   Ben Carpenter: If you’re looking to provide this for staff rather than you’re somebody yourself who has mental health challenges and you’re thinking, ‘what can I do, I’m at work what can I do?’. I think it’s the openness of the topic is primary. So be bold and be brave enough to stand up and say, ‘here’s what I struggle with’. And you know talk to people, give that message out loud, ask people to reflect back to you how they feel, does it ring any bells with them.   So I think there’s been, so Helen Nickols, who ran the Mental Health Network before I joined it as well, I feel like she really led by example you know. She wasn’t afraid, still isn't afraid to stand up and say ‘this is what I struggle with, this is how I deal with it’, you know.    Laura Stevens: Yeah.   Ben Carpenter: And I think if you can’t do that then it’s gonna be hard to expect other people to sort of come out of their shells and start to talk about things that might help them, in a way that might help them, sorry.   So, yeah, it really helps to have champions, people who will treat this seriously and not as a taboo.    Laura Stevens: So be open, be bold, be honest, and have champions.   Ben Carpenter: Yes, keep talking.   Laura Stevens: Would be your sort of, yeah. And…   Ben Carpenter: Yeah.   Laura Stevens: And make sure that you, there’s a space as well I guess for people to be able to have these open conversations.    Ben Carpenter: I think we have to be really aware in organisations that it’s a massive luxury and privilege to be able to be frank about your mental health. It can take a massive amount of privilege. So I’m a white middle aged man with every privilege really. So, and career wise, I’m probably pretty robust. I don’t mean in GDS, ‘cause they could sack me tomorrow, but I just mean I have the luxury of being able to stand up and say you know, the reason I couldn’t come to work last week for a couple of days, was you know, mental health.   To expect that of everybody is not fair. So I think it falls upon people who do have those privileges just to use that capital a bit and try and break those taboos, ‘cause it’s massively biased towards people like me.   Laura Stevens: And how do you get in touch with the mental, how do I join the wellbeing group?   Ben Carpenter: You go on the Slack channel, you listen, you ask questions. It’s not something you can join, it’s just there for you. It’s not a club. The only aspect of it which is a club is that you need to join the Slack channel if you want to read what people are asking or saying, but even within there for a few days at a time, it may only be little nice bits of chat and people asking questions or sharing things they’ve read. So it’s not intense.    If you want to get involved, if you want to give help you might want to train to be a first aider. If you want to give help you might want to put the Q&As in your diary, last Friday of every month 10 to 12 in the morning. And listen to people and offer them your support, if not expertise.   Sometimes people just want to be heard. Now certainly the Q&A, some of the feedback I’ve had is, ‘it’s so good just to be able to write this down and be heard, even if people didn’t know it was me who said it’. And people just say, ‘I hear you, it’s valid, you’re fine, it’s ok to think that and feel that’. So you don’t have to be like I say you know a therapist going on there with amazing clinical advice. So if you want to give help those are good ways to do that. Or you could offer to, you could think about what you could talk about if you’ve had challenges of your own, anything.   If you want to receive help, so if you need help, then there’s a mental health first aiders. Look on the wiki, search for mental health support, look at all, look at the wellbeing pages on there, see what activities and timetables there are for you to get involved with.   Go to the yoga sessions, go on the lunchtime walks, go to Abby’s crafting sessions, dial in to the Q&As, call the Cabinet Office listening service, call, go and see your GP. You know whatever you think works for you. The most important thing is to do something, it can be anything.    Laura Stevens: So if I’m listening and I’m not at GDS so I can’t join the Slack, how would be a good way to get in touch with you if I want to find out more about setting up a Slack channel at my own organisation or running this sort of network?   Ben Carpenter: Totally happy to be emailed, Ben.Carpenter@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk. That sounds right, is that right?   Laura Stevens: Yeah, that’s right.   Ben Carpenter: Yeah. I can’t give mental health advice but I will talk to you about what we do as per this podcast.    And so I often talk about leaning forward, and I think this was actually the name of the Facebook CEO’s book wasn’t it recently? And I think she stole it from me.   The analogy being if you want to jump off a really high diving board and you’re terrified of it, don’t go up to the top of the diving board and think ‘now I’m going to jump 200 feet into this cold water’. Just go to the top of the diving board and lean forward a little bit and think, ‘I know what I’m going to do, I’m just going to lean forward’. And before you know it you’ll be in the water swimming around. Right?    Laura Stevens: Yeah.    Ben Carpenter: So I think, as with any life's big challenges, take the first step and then just try and let the other steps follow.    Laura Stevens: So thank you to Ben to talking to us today about mental health and employee wellbeing. You can listen to all the episodes of the Government Digital Service podcast on Apple Music, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms, and you can read the transcripts on PodBean.    Again, thank you very much to Ben for joining.   Ben Carpenter: Thank you.   Laura Stevens: Goodbye.

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on todays live show, Steven and Ricky are joined by Graham & Eric from Clean Slate, a financial education & support group for vulnerable people + Sally Cullingworth, returning guest from Get Maisie Home & Aim Higher campaigns. Also the guys are joined by Jenny Richards, from Wish Charity & Women’s Mental Health Network and Claire and Nicky from Back to Balance wellness centre!

Behavioral Health Therapy With Mental Health Network CEO Kristin Walker Hamza and David explore the world of Behavioral Health and Mental Health with Mental Health Network CEO Kristin Walker . Can Behavioral Health and Mental Health be stretched to have a bigger impact on society today? What is the the big deal with regards to dealing with the latest Behavioral Health and Mental Health with experts like Mental Health Network CEO Kristin Walker anyway? We discuss experiences both pro and con on the subject from a homies' perspective... Intrinsic Motivation - A Homies Perspective https://www.intrinsicmotivation.life - Come hang out with our weekly talk as we cover everything from Law of Attraction, Personal Development and more from a homie's perspective. Stay tuned! About Mental Health Network CEO Kristin Walker http://www.mhnrnetwork.com

In the season 3 finale, Dr. Margo Maine, one of the founders of the eating disorder treatment field, joins the podcas In the season 3 finale, Dr. Margo Maine, one of the founders of the eating disorder treatment field, joins the podcast to talk about eating disorders in midlife, feminism in recovery, and the role of gender in the development and treatment of eating disorders. We talked in detail about: Dr. Maine’s professional path, including founding NEDA and AED How to midlife eating disorders begin Untreated eating disorders that last until midlife Unique challenges and strengths of recovering midlife How eating disorders are more prevalent than breast cancer How expectations of women’s body and objectification increase risk for eating disorders Margo Maine, Ph.D., CEDS, co-founder of the Maine & Weinstein Specialty Group, is a clinical psychologist who has specialized in eating disorders and related issues for over 30 years. She is author of: Pursuing Perfection: Eating Disorders, Body Myths, and Women at Midlife and Beyond, (with Joe Kelly,Routledge, 2016); Treatment of Eating Disorders: Bridging the Research- Practice Gap, co-edited with Beth McGilley and Doug Bunnell (Elsevier,2010); Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders: The Heart of the Matter, co-edited with William Davis and Jane Shure (Routledge , 2009); The Body Myth: Adult Women and the Pressure to Be Perfect (with Joe Kelly, John Wiley, 2005); Father Hunger: Fathers, Daughters and the Pursuit of Thinness (Gurze, 2004); and Body Wars: Making Peace With Women’s Bodies (Gurze, 2000). Maine is a senior editor of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. A Founding Member and Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders and a member of the Founder’s Council and senior board advisor to the National Eating Disorders Association, Dr. Maine is a member of the psychiatry departments at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital’s Mental Health Network and at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, having previously directed their eating disorder programs. She serves on several Advisory Committees, including the Renfrew Center Clinical Advisory Board, the Renfrew Foundation Conference Committee, and the Walden Clinical Advisory Board. Dr Maine is the 2007 recipient of The Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention and the 2015 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, both given by the National Eating Disorders Association, and is a 2016 Honoree of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. Dr. Maine lectures nationally and internationally on topics related to the treatment and prevention of eating disorders, female development, and women’s health. She has devoted much time and energy to addressing federal policy related to eating disorders through her work for the National Eating Disorders Association and the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy, and Action, having served as vice-president and chaired the policy section of the FREED Act (Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders), which was introduced into Congress by Representative Patrick Kennedy in February, 2009 and by Senator Harkin in 2010.  This podcast is hosted and produced by Janean Anderson, Ph.D., CEDS. Dr. Anderson is a licensed psychologist, author, and podcast host. She holds the Certified Eating Disorder Specialist designation from the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP). She is the Founder and Director of Colorado Therapy & Assessment Center, an outpatient treatment center in Denver, Colorado that specializes in eating disorders.  Dr. Anderson also provides private, one-on-one recovery coaching for listeners of the podcast and for treatment providers seeking supervision and consultation for their CEDS. Interested? Email for more info: podcast@eatingdisorderrecoverypodcast.com To learn more about the podcast, visit www.eatingdisorderrecoverypodcast.com.  Follow Dr. Anderson’s work here: Facebook.com/DrAndersonAuthor Facebook.com/DrJaneanAnderson Twitter.com/DrJanean Get emails about Dr. Anderson’s writing and other happenings at www.eatingdisorderrecoverypodcast.com This podcast is sponsored by 'Ai Pono Maui. 'Ai Pono is led by the internationally renowned expert on eating disorders, Dr. Anita Johnston. Located in a home-like oceanfront facility in beautiful Maui, Hawaii, Ai Pono offers residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient treatment for eating disorders. Visit aiponomaui.com This podcast is sponsored by EDCare. EDCare has provided PHP, IOP & Outpatient treatment for all genders, 18 and over, since 2001. CAMSA ( which stands for Connection, Acceptance, Mindfulness, Sense of Self & Action), is EDCare’s mindfulness-based treatment approach and is incorporated into each individualized treatment plan. Facilities are located in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Kansas City and all treatment are supported by Masters’ Level Clinicians or higher. EDCare offers 4 specialty tracks (BED, ELITE Athlete, Substance Use, & Trauma), and the Connections House, an affordable supportive housing component, adds an extra layer of supervised support. www.eatingdisorder.care or (866) 771-0861 t to talk about eating disorders in midlife, feminism in recovery, and the role of gender in the development and treatment of eating disor