On 15 November 2018 the Work’s Mental Conference took place at the University of Glasgow

Published: 10 January 2019

The event brought together key mental health practitioners, senior human resources executives, and company directors

The overwhelming theme that emerged from the event, co-organised by Professor Frank Pollick of the School of Psychology and Mental Health Learning & Development Company Headtorch, was the need for employers to take all employees’ mental health as seriously as their physical health and safety.

Professor Frank Pollick of the School of Psychology opened the meeting of nearly 100 professionals and academics interested in mental health at work. He commented that it had been two years since starting the Work’s Mental Conference series with Headtorch and it is satisfying to see how the events have been successful at communicating the message of the importance of achieving positive mental health at work.

Peter Kelly, Senior Psychologist at The Health and Safety Executive and Practitioner Chair European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, has warned the time is coming where companies will be held accountable for keeping employees mentally healthy as they are with physical health and safety. The private and public sectors need to look at the fact employers are losing an unprecedented 15.4 million working days to work-related stress.

Speaking at the Work’s Mental Conference at the University of Glasgow, he said : “It is not enough to have one Wellbeing At Work Day a year, we need to make it a priority at board level.

“Stress is a preventable condition in work. The time to act is now. Pressure is the new norm, we need to stop putting this in the “too hard” category. Imagine if we had done that with asbestos.”

Peter Kelly encouraged employers to “Look at the organisational stuff that is making your staff sick. You don’t have a business unless you have healthy employees. By tackling work-related stress employers will be taking a positive step towards meeting the mental health needs of their staff'.

David Duncan, Chief Operating Officer of the University of Glasgow, gave perspective on how the university is addressing mental health at the university and efforts to bring positive effects to staff and students.

Geoff McDonald, Founder of Minds@Work and former Global VP of Human Resources at Unilever, opened the conference saying: “People are frazzled. In the public sector it is “austerity”, in the private sector it is “efficiency”. We have sucked the most important driver of performance out of them - energy.”

Kim Swift, UK Health & Wellness Manager at PepsiCo, described the impact of taking employees’ mental health seriously within her company and explained how the Headtorch WORKS programme is an integral part of the Find Balance strategy at PepsiCo. 

She said: “My top tips would be to have healthy living champions who bring enthusiasm and passion to the subject. Really think about your company culture and demographic and where mental health fits in. And don’t do one-offs, mental health is all year round.”

She added: “Headtorch WORKS is a fantastic programme in the messages it gives to our line managers and features highly in improving education levels around mental health and resilience.” 

Speakers Dr Alys Cole-King, Psychiatrist and Director of Connecting with People and James Jopling, Executive Director for Scotland at Samaritans, gave insight into how employers and colleagues can approach the subject of suicide.

Detective Superintendent Catriona Paton, Police Scotland, drew on her training of dealing with people in crisis to spread the message: “If seconds save lives, say something.” She said: “But first you must actively listen to understand from their perspective as appreciation (not agreement) of what that person believes to be true and what is driving their behaviour is really powerful. When I’m in a crisis situation active listening allows me to understand from their perspective, connect to the person in crisis and identify and support the right response to resolve peacefully"

Headtorch Chairman, Angus Robinson, said: “We had a very diverse group of speakers from both the public and private sectors and the key and consistent message from them all was to invest in mental health – the returns are significant both for organisations and employees.  Simple things can make the difference when it comes to looking after your mental health:  ask for help and talking fearlessly.  We also heard the potentially challenging assertion the HSE could be actively involved in stress at work next year.”

Headtorch CEO and Founder Amy McDonald said “Working in collaboration with the School of Psychology at the University of Glasgow is very important for us and this is the 5th Work’s Mental Conference we have run together.  The growth in interest and numbers since we began is significant which is very encouraging.  The key for employers is to take action – doing nothing is not an option.” 


First published: 10 January 2019