In November of 2018 myself and my colleague Emma were lucky enough to speak at the inaugural conference on mental health in the workplace by the workplace arbitration and conciliation agency Acas.
The theme of the conference was mental health in the workplace and covered a range of topics from personal stories to the business benefits that employers get for taking the mental health of employees seriously. You can see my presentation embedded below:
This was actually my first public speaking engagement and I was incredibly nervous but both the organisers, my colleague Emma and the delegates were all incredibly supportive and our talks seemed well received. Below are some comments on our presentations.
Chris O’Sullivan – Head of Workplace M/H & Corporate Partnerships at the Mental Health Foundation
Hi Mike,
Thank you very much for your email.
It is Carole & I that should be thanking you for your input yesterday, you were excellent and I am pleased that you have now overcome that fear.
I can confirm that I have looked at the feedback forms this morning and both yourself & Emma went down a storm, everyone loved you. Most importantly I think it is good to have people there with real issues/challenges as I think it really highlights to others what it is like to live with Mental Health issues.
Once again, thank you very much, you are a star.
I would like to think we may see you again in the very near future.
Kay Newton – Business & Regional Publicity Manager at Acas
Hi Emma, Emma and Mike
Firstly thank you Emma K for allowing Edit to speak at our conference on mental health on Wednesday 21st and more so for recommending Emma B and Mike, they were both an absolute credit to your organisation. From the moment I received their slides it became clear that not only did they look amazingly professional but just how much work had actually gone into the preparation by both of them.
Emma and Mike, on the day as Kay said, you actually did steal the show. You both spoke from the heart about very real experiences with employers both good and bad and this came across as incredibly real and genuine.
You also sent strong messages to the HR community about the business benefits of supporting those who struggle with their mental health. At the end of both of your sessions a lot of the delegates asked you questions and some were so moved by your talk that they just requested the microphone to thank you for sharing your experiences. It was probably the first time they had heard someone talk so openly and honestly about their mental health and it changed the mood of the conference, you certainly got your messages across.
You were both excellent speakers and when Mike at the end said that this was actually the first time you had spoken publically, everyone just stood up and applauded you. You don’t start small, there were 115 people in the room…
You should both do this again and I am more than happy to recommend you for speaking engagements if that is something you would like to do? Just let me know
I wish you all well and kind regards
Carole Sayer – Senior Advisor / Conciliator at Acas