Mental Health & Wellbeing Symposium

Rhubarb and Priority One invite you to a Mental Health and Wellbeing Symposium.

A year on from COVID the working landscape has changed considerably. Whilst there have been on-off lockdowns in various parts of NZ there has been a greater adoption of digital technology in the workplace. More businesses are enabling working at home which brings a number of challenges along the way, particularly team management, worker connections, personal wellbeing and company culture.

Join us for an exciting session where our guest speakers will discuss their experiences and share knowledge in the field of mental health and wellbeing. Plus a great opportunity to network with your peers.

Speakers:

Nigel Latta - Keynote Speaker

“Resiliency in Uncertain Times”

Life was always fairly stressful but toss a global pandemic into the mix and things get fairly intense fairly quickly. In the last 12 months the world has been a strange place and we’ve all been under added pressures and extra stressors. In this session Nigel will tackle the issue of stress, obstacles, and flamingos in that order. We can no longer afford to just leave our brains to it when it comes to stress and the ups and downs of a post-covid world. The good news is that two simple tools, a dash of philosophy and the oldest trick in the book are a pretty good place to start. Also… wisdom from the All Blacks, and a famous Jewish Psychiatrist.

About: Nigel was born. This was definitely the beginning of it all. He was a child for ages before steadily increasing height forced him to take up adult life. He has done a bunch of stuff since then and is still alive today.

Mike Sheridan

"Being fine: Why do we use the word, 'fine'?"

Men, mostly, use this word instead of using others, instead of saying, 'I'm struggling, I'm low, I'm thinking of ending everything'. Mike is co-author of the book Being Fine. His talk reflects the stories in the book of mostly men  pretending to be fine. How they were in fear of being judged. How they didn't want to be a burden. Instead they suffered in silence.

About: Mike Sheridan is a UK based co-author of the book Being Fine. The book supports the www.myblackdog.co mental health charity. He is also Head Coach of a Personal Health Improvement Programme. Mike has spent many years in front-line client roles for major UK technology companies including Experian, Birst, IBM, SAP and Informatica. After discovering he was carrying critical hypertension he embarked on a journey to focus on himself in order to try and regain his health.

Lee Timutimu

"My Journey"

Lee will share his experiences and his own challenges from a mental health and wellbeing perspective as he grows his business and the impact on his personal life.

About: Lee Timutimu is the CEO and founder of Arataki Systems Limited. He is incredibly passionate about Māori storytelling and the importance it holds for our future generations in terms of the transfer of knowledge, the continuation of our narratives, and the retention and maintenance of our culture.

Melanie Bedggood

" How leadership can create a culture that proactively promotes wellbeing within the flexible, remote working space "

Melanie will discuss understanding the interlinked pillars of wellbeing and performance and how we can utilise virtual working practices to mobilise these which can go a long way in supporting the wellbeing people in the workplace.

Digital transformation evidently is a key consideration in facilitating the flexible working space and workforce productivity. In exploring the platforms available, most do not look at it from an informed performance perspective, rather the focus seems to be on project/task management and co-ordination. Really focussing on what motivates and connects people, we need to be looking for and how to implement digital transformation within the broader workplace structure, to keep teams connected and thriving.

About: Melanie has experience across the health, social services, education and the for-profit business sectors. She has leadership and governance experience grounded in a social science perspective, alongside specialist knowledge in the area of mental health. This has lead to founding Growth Development an innovative social enterprise bringing a first of its kind Intentional Culture Design approach