Listen to the Wellbeing Hour Panel with guests

• Julie Nerney, Serial Entreprenuer, Transformational Leader & Non Executive Director UK Supreme Court
• Prof Denis Fischbacher-Smith, Research Chair in Risk & Resilience, University of Glasgow
• Karen Anne Duffy, HSE & Sustainability Manager, Volvo Construction Equipment, Chair Global Mental Health Community, Volvo Group

Tamana Ayazi is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, journalist, and human rights advocate. She was born and raised in Balkh, Afghanistan.

Tamana Ayazi passionately uses storytelling as a powerful tool for advocating freedom of thought, equality and human rights.

In 2018, Tamana became a National Geographic Explorer, and in 2021, she began assisting Amnesty International in documenting its one-year-long report titled “Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule.”

Tamana Ayazi’s film credits include the Academy Award-winning short documentary “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)” (2019), Where the Light Shines (2019) and One Bullet (2023). Her debut feature-length documentary, “In Her Hands,” premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the 2022 Camden International Film Festival. Tamana is the recipient of the Cinema for Peace Dove Award for Women’s Empowerment, along with three News and Emmy nominations in 2023, along with one win. Her work is now available on Netflix.

Join us to explore how mental health and workplace culture work hand in hand.

Matthew is a Client Relationship Director at Baillie Gifford.

He’s also Chair of their Mental Health Group.

Hear from Matthew about creating an open workplace culture, the polar opposite to a closed one where you "bottle things up".  The lessons from this apply to every organisation.

Baillie Gifford values the mental health and wellbeing of employees, investing in Learning & Development and numerous initiatives to support everyone.

Join us to explore how mental health and workplace culture works hand in hand.

Sue started life as a dancer – narrowly missing out on being part of the infamous Pans People, (as featured on ‘Top of the Pops’ in the 1970s). Running alongside the world of dance, she took up competing and volunteering in the world of Motorsport.

After many years Sue started to deliver training and project consultancy for The Motorsport Association (MSA), assisting them with a very successful recruitment and development project. Further work followed including managing the International Training Programme for the MSA. This international work saw Sue and a team of trainers deliver training to over 50 countries in a 10 year period.

Since then she’s co-authored a body of work which provides safety guidance and regulations to all rally events across the UK and which has now been adopted for International events across the world.

Sue now manages the L&D team at Motorsport UK who have responsibility for over 10,000 volunteer marshals, over 3,000 volunteer officials and the Elite Programme with over 100 competitors competing at the top level both nationally and internationally.

Chas’s career was in finance, working with companies including Cadbury Schweppes, Debenhams, The Burton Group and Diageo. His last major role was as CFO for Superdry Plc., where he saw the business grow from £25m to £314m in 5 years. He chaired the project team to list the business on the London Stock Exchange, winning 2010 IPO of the Year in the process and achieving FTSE250 status.

When profits turned, Chas left Superdry and after some years, in 2016 was diagnosed with depression. Now he is in a much happier place having made changes to his lifestyle, but he is not better. Instead, Chas lives with depression, rather than suffering from it.

Join us to hear his story and his new found passion and purpose in changing attitudes to mental ill health.

Kate Goodger is one of the most experienced performance psychologists in Olympic sport in the UK having worked with Team GB athletes and medallists at seven Olympic Games. She has achieved a strong reputation as a high-performance coach and facilitator with executives, leaders and teams in European and global businesses.

She has a PhD in Athlete Burnout and is a published researcher in the field. She has brought both her applied and research background into her role at Laing O’Rourke as Head of Human Innovation and Performance with a critical focus on unlocking ingenuity at every level of the business.

Rory O’Connor PhD FRSE FAcSS is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and a Past President of the International Academy of Suicide Research. Rory leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab at Glasgow, one of the leading suicide/self-harm research groups internationally. He has published extensively in the field of suicide and self-harm. His research has been extensively cited as evidenced by Rory being named in the 2022 ISI Highly Cited Researchers list, that ranks researchers in the top 1% for citations in their field. He is the recipient of several awards including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Research Award. He is also co-author/editor of several books, including being author of the award-winning book When It is Darkest. Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do To Prevent It. Rory has also contributed to numerous TV documentaries on suicide and co-hosts the mental health podcast MQ’s Open Mind.

Julie was a serial entrepreneur, starting, running and selling 14 business in the UK and overseas. She then had a successful interim career as a business transformation expert, spanning private, public and not for profit sectors. These ranged from complex change programmes through to whole organization turnarounds and high profile projects, including a leadership role in the delivery of the transport operation for the London 2012Olympic and Paralympic games. She has experience of every stage of the organizational lifecycle from start up through to disposals and acquisitions, and has worked in dozens of Executive and CEO roles. Her transformation work is complemented by a varied portfolio of Chair and NED roles, she is a guest lecturer at Oxford Said Business School, public speaker and author. Whilst her experience has real breadth and depth, Julie is struck by the commonality across the hundreds of organizations she has worked with. Regardless of why they are there, how teams and leaders approach their work is a far bigger determinant than what they do. The what is important, but it is the how which is the game changer.

Helen is a gardener, writer and podcaster. She’s just published her first book Grow, Cook, Inspire; Gardening and cooking for a healthier mind and planet.

The book encourages everyone to grow their own and eat seasonally, exploring the benefits for our mental and physical wellbeing, and our environment.

Helen grew up on a farm on the west coast of Scotland and has experienced first hand the devastating consequences of mental illness, which she has long suffered from.

Helen talks openly and honestly about the different strategies and tools she uses to navigate that difficult work life balance, and how gardening has proved vital in her own tool kit.

The mother of three worked in media and PR prior to her passion igniting for gardening.

Hannah is the Founder and Co-Director of Headlines Network, a media consultant and journalist with more than two decades of experience working in the international news industry. She is the former CEO of the International News Safety Institute and the Ethical Journalism Network, as well as a sought-after speaker, facilitator, trainer and writer. Hannah co-authored the first study into moral injury and the media for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism with Professor Anthony Feinstein and has written extensively at the intersection of gender, mental health, physical and online safety. She combines her expertise in journalism with her lived experience of PTSD and surviving sexual assault, to work with newsrooms to create cultures where people feel safer sharing their experiences. She set up Headlines Network in 2021, with the aim of promoting more open conversations around mental health in journalism through a podcast, tips and training. Hannah is also a qualified Mental Health First Aider with MHFA England. She began her career at Reuters, and has worked for other news organisations including The Times, ITV News, Channel 4 News, and the BBC, as a staff and freelance journalist, covering stories including environmental disasters, civil unrest, gender-based violence, sport, politics, climate change, humanitarian crises, and more. Outside her journalism work, she’s an award-winning author of flash fiction and an accomplished marathon runner, having notched up 19 marathons or ultra-marathons, and she finds writing and running hugely beneficial for her mental health.