Essex academic hopes to improve mental health in county’s workplaces

An Essex Business School academic is campaigning for better mental health support in the workplace by launching a series of collaborative coaching sessions with local businesses.

Dr Maria Hudson, Lecturer in Human Resource Management, is creating an Action Learning Set (ALS) to help Essex employers better understand mental health issues at work and act on best practice.

Essex academic hopes to improve mental health in county’s workplaces

The free sessions will involve a group of six to eight employers meeting regularly to discuss the issue in a confidential environment. They will be facilitated by Dr Hudson and provide participants with support in finding out about better mental health policy and practice.

Dr Hudson said:

"Mental illness is the largest single cause of disability in the UK. There is great concern about the negative impact that poor management of mental health in the work environment can have on individuals, businesses and society. I want to raise awareness of available solutions that help reduce this statistic."

The project will engage with organisational challenges linked to mental health at work, organisational responses and what support employees with mental health conditions can expect to receive from their employers.

Provisory dates and venues