Ahead of Mental Health Awareness week, Life A Plenty Charitable Trust is offering two Professional Development opportunities centred around “CULTIVATING PROFESSIONAL RESILIENCE - Unlocking Workplace Wellbeing”. This is an opportunity to learn the tools to transform stress to strengths, gaining pragmatic tools and ideas to address and prevent burnout. The workshops will address how to positively influence workplace culture, lead with wellbeing in mind, support others through burnout, and sustain your own professional and personal levels of wellness. Come to one or come to both.

Every contribution from this event directly supports Life A Plenty Charitable Trust's mission: offering free therapeutic retreats exclusively for women seeking respite and effective tools for greater wellbeing.

The morning session: 9.00am - 12.30pm

“Beyond Burnout: How to Spot it, Stop it and Stamp it Out.”

Suzi McAlpine

This three hour seminar will focus on what leaders and individuals can do to identify and manage stress to avoid burnout in themselves, their colleagues and those they lead. This will include practical tools and tips which can be applied at an individual, leadership and organisational level to address burnout. She will draw from key research and concepts from her bestselling book, Beyond Burnout: How to Spot it, Stop it and Stamp it Out.”

Mental wellbeing in the workplace is a growing focus for many organisations. And with good reason. But many leaders and organisations are still coming to grips with how to tackle stress and mental wellness effectively.

Burnout is becoming big problem globally. But it’s only in recent times that we’re coming to realise just how big: A recent study by OC Tanner Global Culture Report found that 40% of employees are experiencing moderate-to-severe burnout. And 2024 research by Dr Jarrod Haar from Massey University indicated that over 50% of the New Zealand workforce could be classified as burnt out.

Job burnout is estimated to account for an eye watering $125 billion to $190 billion in health-care spending each year globally. The financial cost to New Zealand organisations of burnout and chronic stress that is not managed well in turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism, lower engagement and reduced productivity are well documented – and would give any leader a headache.

Therefore, the session will focus on what leaders and individuals can do to identify and manage stress to avoid burnout in themselves, their colleagues and those they lead. This will include practical tools and tips which can be applied at an individual, leadership and organisational level to address burnout. She will draw from key research and concepts from her bestselling book,

Topics will include:

What exactly is burnout? And what is it not? Why stress in itself is not a bad thing. A certain amount of stress is both good for our wellbeing and performance.
What are the three red flags (or symptoms) of burnout and chronic stress? What are the warning signs that we need to be aware of in ourselves, our peers and those we lead?
Debunking the myths surrounding burnout - including who might be the most at risk (spoiler alert: your high performers can be most at risk!)
What are the six main causes of burnout in organisations? And what can organisations, leaders and individuals do to manage and reduce these? A focus on leadership practices will be taken.
The four key practices which leaders can adopt to identify, avoid and reduce unmanageable stress in the workplace. These are RECOGNISE, DESTIGMATISE, SOCIALISE AND ORGANISE. And how we can create working environments where people, as well as profits, thrive.

About our speaker:

Suzi is a leadership coach who specialises in leadership development, including executive coaching, leadership programmes for CEOs and executive leadership teams, and organisations throughout New Zealand. She is the author of the bestselling book, Beyond Burnout, which reached the top 10 non-fiction book sales in Aotearoa New Zealand - and is the author of the award-winning blog, The Leader’s Digest, which has been named in CMOE’s Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs.

She has been featured in the Sunday Star Times, ONE News, the Sunday programme, Radio New Zealand, the NZ Herald and Inc. Magazine. Suzi is also the creator of The Leader’s Map, a blended leadership programme for organisations wishing to equip their emerging leaders with the necessary leadership capabilities for success. She is based in Nelson, New Zealand.

The afternoon session: 1.30pm - 4.00pm

“Using Emotional Intelligence to Combat Burnout”

Lindsey Rayner & Kate Figgins

This 2.5 hour awareness and skills-based session will focus on the early recognition of physiological signs of stress, and how to effectively minimise the potential for burnout. Through interactive discussions and practical exercises, attendees will learn to identify early signs of stress and burnout and understand the potential impact this has on general Wellness. A key component of the workshop is centred around practical mental and behavioural skills that can be implemented at work or at home to remain productive and composed under pressure. The session will be delivered through the lens of Emotional Intelligence and the intrapersonal skill sets of self-awareness and self-regulation.

Topics will include:

Understand the internal facing components of EQ and how they relate to managing stress and preventing burnout
Recognise the physical, emotional, and behavioural signs of burnout and explore common causes.
Participate in self-assessment activities to evaluate and enhance personal EQ skills.
Learn strategies for improving self-awareness and self-regulation, and how this impacts on empathy and social skills.
Create a personal action plan to develop EQ skills then practice them in daily life

About our speakers: Humanex

Lindsey’s passion is working with organisations to support them achieve goals and aspirations, with a specific focus on people and culture strategies that create psychologically safe workplaces. She has headed large strategic business plans, coached business leaders and developed and delivered leadership training modules to executives in varying business settings. Her primary goal is to create company cultures where everyone thrives and individuals find enjoyment, fulfilment and feel safe to be themselves.

Kate has considerable experience working in complex service delivery and solution design organisations across commercial and not-for-profit enterprises. She has a strong focus on strategic development and business transformation and is passionate about purposeful and measurable change. She has a keen interest in evaluating complex multi-stakeholder issues and a continuing interest in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (spanning more than 20 years) and its application in the workplace.