Psych Health and Safety Podcast

In this episode, Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with returning guest Jennifer Low, Director of Health, Safety, Resilience and Digital Policy at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Jen provides an update on the progress of the psychosocial regulations since we last spoke with her, then gives us a crash course in work design for psychosocial hazards.

In this episode, UK Hosts Peter and Hayley chat with Louise Aston, Wellbeing Director at Business in the Community. Louise shares insights from BITC's latest report - "Prioritise people: Unlock the value of a thriving workforce". https://www.bitc.org.uk/report/prioritise-people-unlock-the-value-of-a-thriving-workforce/

Anna Feringa joins the conversation, bringing her expertise in pitching psychological health and safety to executives. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the board’s knowledge level to avoid missteps. The need for an executive sponsor who champions mental well-being is highlighted. Anna discusses leveraging data for a compelling business case, balancing detail to avoid overwhelming decision-makers. She also underscores the ethical responsibility towards employee welfare, especially in light of soaring workplace mental health risks.

In this episode, UK hosts Peter and Hayley chat with guest César Gamio, Managing Director at Dharma Centre for Wellbeing. César distinguishes between 'wellness' and 'wellbeing', and explains how organisations can build an employee wellbeing approach that is comprehensive, strategic, resourced appropriately, and aligned with organisational objectives.

In this episode Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Cameron Stevens, safety technologist and Director of Pocketknife Group. Cam discusses the benefits to an organisation of having their safety function involved in technology application. He shares his observations about current pre-employment screenings and the significant opportunity to explore psychosocial factors using realistic job previews to provide better recruitment outcomes for both employers and employees. We explore the interaction between psychosocial factors and critical risk control and discuss how well this interaction is currently being managed by organisations engaged in critical risk work. NB: The arms of a T-Rex are about 3ft long. Joelle's arms are significantly shorter than those of a T-Rex, as are those of most humans.

In this episode, UK hosts Hayley and Peter chat with repeat guest Louise Hosking, who is joining us from a brand new role as Executive Director of Environmental Health with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Louise speaks to the importance of environmental health in improving human health, and the relationship between mental health and public health.

With most Australian states now having specific regulations for managing psychosocial risks in place, regulators will be responsible for inspecting duty holders to ensure they have safe systems of work in place to prevent psychological injury. So what is required? Join Australian hosts Jason and Joelle as they share what to expect when a psychosocial inspector visits your workplace, and how to be prepared with information to demonstrate you are compliant with WHS regulations. Download the cheat sheet here: https://psychosocialriskassessment.com/download-the-psychological-health-safety-cheat-sheet/

In this episode, Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Donna Lawrence, Clinical Psychologist and Head of Wellbeing, Safety and Injury Management at St John WA. Donna shares the bespoke approach St John WA takes in maintaining its own Employee Assistance Provider network of Psychologists, (including the work involved in establishing and maintaining the network!) and then we discuss how St John encourages employees to make a workers compensation claim when it becomes apparent that this is the more appropriate recovery pathway than EAP. This is a practical and fascinating exploration of an organisation doing psychological support and injury response a bit differently.

In this episode, UK hosts Peter and Hayley chat with guest Amy McKeown, Strategist and Consultant in Organisational Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing. Amy offers advice on the importance of clarity of our terminology. What is an organisation actually targeting when developing a "wellbeing strategy"? What do we mean as a society when we talk about "mental health"? She explores the conflation between mental health, mental ill-health, and mental illness and how this informs policy both at a company level and a societal level.

In this episode Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Rachel Clements, Co-Founder of the Centre for Corporate Health. We chat about an emerging trend in the psych health and safety space - wellbeing washing. Rachel explains what this looks like in different organisations and why some organisations may not realise that their approach is poor. She offers advice for organisations to move away from wellbeing washing and ensure that their approach is robust.