Psych Health and Safety Podcast

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.

In this episode we chat with Lynnell Beeck-West, Staff Wellbeing Program Manager at the East Metropolitan Health Service in Western Australia. Lynnell describes the approach she has taken to develop a psychosocial risk management process within the Health Service, sharing practical information about the organisational drivers, the process involved in scoping the work, how a pilot group was selected, and how actions were identified.

In this episode, UK hosts Peter and Hayley chat with Lee Chambers, Founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing. Lee discusses the relationship between inclusion and wellbeing, both as organisational activities and as individual outcomes, and the wellbeing impacts on individuals experiencing exclusion in the workplace. He shares his views on the breadth of skills required for a Wellbeing Officer role, and the importance of utilising a range of communications strategies to ensure messages are heard throughout the workforce. https://leechambers.org/

In this episode we chat with Nicola Hemmings, Doctoral Candidate at Birkbeck University of London. She tells us about the doctoral projects she's undertaken so far - Mission to Mars (helping to address burnout in entrepreneurs), and a maturity model of HR-owned mental health strategies. We chat about her next project, exploring mental health support for small and medium enterprises in the UK. https://setsquared-bristol.co.uk/news/nicola-hemmings-guest-blog-founder-burnout-from-surviving-to-thriving/

In this episode, Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Dr Kim Hamrosi, CEO of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance. Kim describes how the Alliance was founded, its membership, aims, and activities. She talks about how Alliance members share and learn from each other, and shares how the topics and discussions have evolved and matured from "fruit bowls and yoga" to psychosocial risk and work design. https://cmhaa.org.au/ https://haveyoursay.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/blueprint-for-mentally-healthy-workplaces

In this episode, UK hosts Peter and Hayley have a discussion about the things that are bothering them both in the dominant approaches to workplace wellbeing - from terminology and fixing the individual, through to corporate metrics and the S in ESG.

In this episode, Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Angelina Badri, Director at Universal Safety Wellness. From her experience working in high-hazard industries, Angelina shares her observations about how an individual's mental state can impact safety outcomes at work. We discuss the relationship between psychological safety and psychological health and safety, and Angelina shares her thoughts on the role of the organisation (beyond the team-level) in creating the conditions that enable psychological safety. https://universalsafetywellness.com

In this episode, UK hosts Hayley and Peter chat with Catherine de la Poer, Founder of Halcyon Coaching Ltd. We discuss the contribution of psychological health and safety to the innovation economy, the growing importance of meaningfulness at work, the significance of the S in ESG, and how these elements contribute to an organisation becoming an employer of choice.

In this episode, Australian hosts Jason and Joelle chat with Dr John Chan, Organisational Psychologist and Managing Director at Infinite Potential. John shares insights from Infinite Potential's research report titled "The State of Workplace Burnout 2023". We explore how burnout rates are changing over time, discuss the relationship between hybrid work and burnout, and consider the impact of burnout at a team level. John shares his observations about why leaders are not taking more action to prevent or address burnout in their organisations, and offers suggested starting points for leaders to work with their teams to prevent or reduce burnout. https://infinite-potential.com.au/the-state-of-burnout-2023