Welcome to the new Charlie Waller Workplace website
Workplaces should help people thrive but how do we make this happen? How do we create an environment where people can be productive and feel supported, but equally understand the pressures and the priorities that employers and managers have?
These are the questions Charlie Waller Workplace aims to answer by working with employers, managers and staff teams to build a culture of positive mental health and wellbeing.
Abigail Hirshman, Director of Charlie Waller Workplace
The Charlie Waller Trust has been offering mental health training since it was set up 25 years ago. With a focus on young people, the Trust raises funds so its training is free to schools, colleges, universities, parents and carers.
Expertise
In 2020 we set up Charlie Waller Workplace to offer specialist mental health training and consultancy to employers. All the profits from Charlie Waller Workplace are invested into the work of the Charlie Waller Trust, helping today’s children and young people become the mentally healthy workforce of the future.
We have a golden opportunity to make this a change for the better, through a more nuanced and courageous undertanding of mental health at work.
The Trust’s long history and rigorous use of evidence attract the support of leading mental health experts. Charlie Waller Workplace has access to their expertise as well as our own specialist knowledge as professionals in psychology, psychotherapy, medicine and human resources.
Positive change
The last three years have arguably seen the biggest changes in the workplace for decades. I believe we have a golden opportunity to make this a change for the better, through a more nuanced and courageous understanding of mental health at work.
We need to move past one size fits all approaches and have the confidence to hold helpful conversations about wellbeing with our managers and colleagues, and within our teams. Whilst we may not wish to bare our soul at work, we don’t have to leave our real selves at the office door either (or the construction site entrance, or factory gates). We can use our creativity, our life-experience and our empathy to build a culture of wellbeing in our workplaces.
Our positive, practical, evidence-informed approach is carefully designed to help people learn how to do this.
Our aim is to help individuals flourish and businesses thrive.
Meet the team
I am proud to be heading up a team of experienced and talented professional workplace consultants. Their varied skills and specialisms complement my own 25 years’ work in the mental health field:
The longest-standing member of the team is Gemma Fieldsend, who has worked in mental health for over 25 years, including working as a clinical team manager within the NHS.
Tracy Wright is a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist, business psychologist and coach, with over 20 years’ experience in mental health, and Dr Mike Oliver is a chartered psychologist and registered health psychologist, specialising in workplace health and wellbeing.
Natalie Treacher is an experienced trainer and health promotion specialist who has worked for 10 years as a manager in mental health social care and as National Training Lead (Adult and Workplace) for Mental Health First Aid Ireland. Jane Abraham, with 25 years’ experience in workplace health and wellbeing, worked for the employers’ team in the government’s Work and Health Unit; she advised ministers on delivering new programmes under the government’s work, health, wellbeing and inclusion agenda.
L-R: Jane Abraham, Mike Oliver, Gemma Fieldsend, Natalie Treacher, Tracy Wright
Our consultants have extensive experience of working at board level, developing mental health programmes for businesses across sectors including financial services, technology, media, legal, academia, private equity and many others. There’s more about each member of the team here.
We hope you’ll find our new website informative and that you’ll explore what we have to offer. If you’d like to be kept up to date with our work, do sign up for our newsletter for the latest news and insights into workplace mental health.
