News release • wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy
Issue date: Wednesday, 22 August 2007

World Mental Health Day - free seminar
on mental health in the workplace

Date:       Wednesday 10 October 2007
Location: Voluntary Sector Rooms, The Diana, Princess of Wales
                Memorial Fund, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road,
                London SE1 (Westminster tube)
Time:      10-12.30

To mark World Mental Health Day (10 October 2007) wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy and Kensington & Chelsea Social Council will hold a free seminar for voluntary sector organisations examining the responsibilities of employers, good practice and bad practice and current campaigns which set out to best support people experiencing mental health problems in the workplace.

The latest disability discrimination act incorporates mental health, making employers responsible for “reasonable adjustments” for staff experiencing mental health problems at work. Although mental health is the second biggest cause of workplace absence and one in four people will experience mental health problems in any one year, many organisations are uncertain of what effective support they can or should provide.

“The voluntary sector often works in stressful situations with demanding client groups and limited staff support resources,” said Lesley Murdin, chief executive, wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy. “Yet the fact that staff have a very strong motivation to work in this sector doesn’t make them immune to stress and pressure.”

Speakers at the seminar include:

• Howard Yearwood, Training and Diversity Manager, ACAS, on good and bad practice from recent cases

• Hanif Bobat, adviser to SHIFT, part of the National Institute of Mental Health, on the government’s latest campaign to combat stigma

• Vicky Nicholls, researcher in mental health, on what practical measures of support and adjustments people with mental health problems have found helpful within the workplace

Free tickets must be booked in advance by contacting  Claudia Lema at wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy on Tel: 020 7361 4827 claudia.lema@wpf.org.uk , www.wpf.org.uk or Sofia Roupakia at Kensington & Chelsea Social Council, Tel: 020 7243 9805, sofia@kcsc.demon.co.uk , www.kcsc.org.uk.

Download poster

Ends

More media information:
Lesley Warner, wpf Counselling & Psychotherapy
Tel: 020 7361 4827 ; Mobile: 07906 813694
Email: lesley.warner@wpf.org.uk
www.wpf.org.uk

wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy provides high quality therapy tailored to each individual as well as training for counsellors and psychotherapists with a wide range of accredited training programmes. In addition to its offices and training department in Kensington, wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy works with a network of 27centres across England and is the largest charitable provider of counselling and psychotherapy in England.