The Mind Solution Podcast

The future of HR elevates the employee experience to the top of the agenda, recognises employee wellbeing and flexibility as key business strategies.

Jess Badley, Head of HR and OD at Blood Cancer UK shares with us what wellbeing strategies they have developed to support their people which won them the Culture Pioneers Award for Wellbeing in 2021.

Together we discuss;

• How the role of HR has evolved
• The impact of toxic working cultures
• What leaders need to demonstrate to create psychological safety
• How to measure the impact of your wellbeing strategy
• The key challenges for HR Leaders in the new work of work

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]

In this short but insightful episode, I speak with Fran Dean - Bishop, CEO of Aerobodies, about what she's seeing on the ground in North America when it comes to employee wellbeing in the workplace.

Frand brings a fresh, experienced perspective on what organisations are getting right — and where they're still missing the mark.

We explore how the psychological contract between employees and employers is shifting, and what that means for leadership, communication, and company culture.

There's no one-size-fits-all solution, but one message is clear: before launching any wellbeing initiative, you need a clear, aligned employee wellbeing strategy.

Too often, businesses jump into action — a workshop here, a wellbeing webinar there — without first creating the structure, intention, and internal clarity to support long-term change. Fran's approach reminds us that employee wellbeing is not a bolt-on. It's a mindset. A commitment. A culture shift.

If you're at the start of designing your organisation's wellbeing offering, or looking to strengthen what's already in place, this episode offers real food for thought.

👉 Listen now: Rethinking Employee Wellbeing Because great wellbeing programmes don't start with events. They start with wellbeing strategy.

Tune in as we explore what Fran is seeing with the organisations she works with in North America.

How the psychological contract has evolved and what organisations need to do to meet employees needs.

What will happen to leaders who don't evolve!

What you as a business leader need to do before embarking on any health and wellbeing initiative.

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]

Alcohol can lie to you in so many ways. Alcohol can make you believe it relaxes you (until it's keeping you awake at 2am). Alcohol can make you believe you need it to feel more confident. Alcohol can create the illusion that you're happier when you've had a drink, that you need it to have a good time. But what happens when alcohol makes you believe you need it before you go into work on a morning? That you need alcohol to get you through the day? The way alcohol seduces you into lying to the people around you, even when your job is on the line?

Wendy Baines, HR Director shares her deeply personal account of her relationship with alcohol and how, in the end, it cost her her job.

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]

In this extraordinary episode, I sit down with Rohan Kallicharan, then HR Director of Carbon Clean, as he shares one of the most courageous and deeply human stories we've featured on the podcast.

Rohan speaks openly about living with bipolar disorder — including his experience of three suicide attempts — and what it truly means to lead while living with a mental health condition.

This conversation isn't about theory or frameworks. It's about real life. Real leadership. And the power of telling the truth about how we're really doing.

When someone in a senior role has the courage to say, "This is what I've lived through," it creates a ripple effect of trust. It gives others permission to speak. And it's in those moments that cultures begin to change.

We talk about how HR leaders, founders, and senior executives can create a culture of psychological safety — one where conversations about mental health and wellbeing are not just encouraged, but embedded in the way people lead, listen, and connect.

This isn't just about having a policy or a programme. It's about what it looks like to lead with humanity.

Whether you're an HR professional, a founder, or a manager, Rohan's story will leave you changed.

👉 Listen now: Leading with Humanity – Rohan Kallicharan on Bipolar, Leadership, and the Culture of Mental Health

Because the strongest workplaces aren't built on performance alone. They're built on truth, empathy, and the courage to go first.

In this episode we had the absolute pleasure of talking to Rohan Kallicharan, HR Director of Carbon Clean. Rohan shares a very personal and intimate story of his journey with Bi Polar, including 3 suicide attempts, to where he is now in his career and as a Board member of Mind. Rohan will inspire you that there is light at the end of the tunnel and shares some fantastic insights into what leaders can do to create a culture that supports mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]

When the 4-Day Working Week trial launched in the UK back in 2022, it sparked curiosity, excitement, and — let's be honest — a fair bit of scepticism.

Working just 32 hours a week? It sounds like a dream for most employees, especially in a culture where long hours are still worn like a badge of honour.

But is the UK really ready for a shift like this? Or are we setting ourselves up to fail by pushing an old system through a new container?

One of the biggest misunderstandings we see in fast-paced, high-pressure environments is the belief that a 4-Day Week simply means doing the same work in less time.

But if your team is already running on adrenaline, stress, and back-to-back meetings, all hands to the pump, reducing the working week without restructuring your internal ecosystem is a recipe for burnout, not balance.

To make it work, you need to step back and ask:

• What platforms and systems could streamline our workflows?

• Where are we duplicating effort or creating unnecessary admin?

• What cultural norms are we reinforcing around "availability" and productivity?

This isn't just a shift in time. It's a shift in mindset, infrastructure, and leadership.

If you don't take the time to reimagine how work gets done — not just how much of it gets done — you risk:

• Piling more pressure on already overstretched teams

• Undermining trust if the workload becomes unsustainable

• Causing internal resistance when people feel set up to fail

A 4-Day Working Week done well can dramatically improve employee engagement, productivity, and overall wellbeing. But a 4-Day Working Week done poorly? That just becomes another stressor to manage.

In this short episode, I break down the real questions leaders should be asking before jumping on the 4-Day Week bandwagon and why surface-level change won't cut it.

👉 Listen now: Are We Ready for a 4-Day Working Week?

Because meaningful change starts with more than a new calendar. It starts with a new conversation.

The 4 day working week trail is set to take place in 2022 with 30 organisations in the UK taking part.

Working 32 hours a week sounds heavenly for meany of us, but with the UK having one of the longest working hours cuktures, are we really ready for a 4 day working week or are we setting ourselves up to fail?

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]

When it comes to mental health in the workplace, most managers think they need a toolkit. A checklist, a framework, a magic script. But here's what we teach in our mental health training for managers: you don't need more tools. You already have everything you need.

Sound surprising? Stay with me!

Because the ability to support your team through stress, anxiety, burnout, or personal crisis has less to do with strategy and everything to do with presence, connection, and psychological safety in the workplace.

If you take away one thing from this episode, let it be this... 🧠 Psychological safety begins with connection not policy.

Think about the best conversations you've ever had when you were struggling. Chances are, it wasn't because someone fixed the problem you were experiencing (although maybe if it was a plumber!) It was because they were:

• Genuinely present

• Listening — without interrupting

• Able to empathise not sympathise

That's what your team needs from you.

When we run our mental health training for managers, one of the most common requests is for 'tools'. Managers feeling they need tools to manage mental health.

We understand the impulse; it's human to want a formula or a 3-step procedure. But here's the truth we share in our training...

🛠 The greatest tools aren't external. They're internal.

You already have:

• The ability to be present

• The capacity to listen

• The emotional intelligence to empathise

• The wisdom to know when to speak, and when not to

What we do in our training isn't about giving managers new tools. It's about helping them rediscover the tools they already have — and learn how to use them with intention and awareness.

Psychological safety isn't about grand gestures or HR campaigns. It happens in micro-moments:

• When a manager pauses and makes eye contact

• When they ask, "How are you really?" and mean it

• When they hold space without rushing to fix or change anything

And this is the key: Psychological safety in the workplace begins when leaders feel safe in themselves. That's why we teach self-awareness, emotional regulation, and presence as the foundation of our wellbeing programmes.

Let's be honest: most managers, or indeed humans, weren't trained to listen. They were trained to solve, to perform, to lead.

That's why our mental health training for managers helps participants:

• Learn how to listen without fixing

• Develop real-time emotional intelligence

• Understand how their own mental state impacts the team

• Build trust and psychological safety through small, powerful shifts

It's not about scripts. It's about human skills.

👉 Start here: Explore our mental health training for managers Or book a call to find out how we can help your leaders become the support system your team really needs.

Many times when delivering management mental health training we hear managers saying that they need tools to manage mental health within their teams.

In this podcast discover all the reasons why you don't need any tools!

Links https://themindsolution.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaude/ Contact us at [email protected]