2020 will be a standout year for all the wrong reasons. In January, in the UK, we thought our biggest problem was dealing with Brexit. By March, Europe had come to a standstill as we all sought to contain the little understood but greatly feared Coronavirus. Those who thought it would all be over by the summer thought again as numbers climbed, government scientists kept talking about the R number increasing and the prospect of lockdown 2 loomed. 

So here we are, at the end of the year, not yet able to fully count the cost of the impact of Covid, as the pandemic is ongoing. 

But before we all creep away and hide in a dark corner, there is light at the end of the dark tunnel we have all been inhabiting. The news of the first vaccine being 90% effective in trials is very encouraging and brings hope that normal life WILL resume at some point in 2021. 

To help us come to terms with 2020 and prepare for the uncertainties and challenges of 2021, and to inject a strong element of optimism, the Growth Hub is delighted to welcome Rosie Runciman to host a series of webinars offering practical advice on looking after your own wellbeing and that of your team. 

Rosie, co-founder of The Sound Doctor and TeamDoctor, is on a mission to make health education more accessible and interesting.  She worked at the BBC for more than 20 years on Radio 4's Today programme, Newsnight, Radio 5 Live and at The World Service. She was Editor of Newshour with a global audience of over 40 million and won Sony awards for programme content for 9/11 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  

At TeamDoctor, the goal is to provide an understanding of health and wellbeing through nationally accredited courses and a substantial, well-evaluated film library. In this webinar series, Rosie will bring you their key findings and provide the opportunity to get your own questions answered by internationally renowned experts. 

The state of the nation’s collective mental health has featured weekly and sometimes daily in news bulletins this year. It is hardly surprising that employers are struggling to deal with their own and their employees’ mental health whilst trying to keep their businesses afloat. Raising awareness that there is a problem is all well and good but what are you supposed to do about it? Yoga, meditation and mindfulness, to name just a few relaxation techniques, work fantastically for some people, but they do nothing for others. Looking after your mental health and that of your employees isn’t just about wellbeing aids. It requires a fundamental understanding of the root causes of stress and anxiety in yourself and others and then learning useful and practical ways of removing them. 

End of a Difficult Year – Tuesday 8th December 10-11am.  

Register for the webinar here. 

The first webinar in the series will give us closure on our annus horribilis. How can we improve wellbeing and engagement and why does it matter to us, and to the success of our businesses? 

Rosie Runciman will be talking live to Emily Hutchinson in a webinar interspersed with film clips, allowing plenty of time for questions. Emily is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a registered Practitioner Psychologist. She is also an Associate Lecturer (University of the West of England), and an External Examiner for Psychological Interventions at the University of East London, and Associate Editor (Books) for The Psychologist. She is the author of ‘The Strengths Based Organisation’ and has been featured as one of Britain’s 10 leading Occupational Psychologists by the Independent on Sunday. 

New Year, Huge Challenges – Wednesday 6th January 10-11am.  

Register for the webinar here. 

In the second webinar of the series, it’s a New Year with huge challenges. We can’t pretend they aren’t there, but we can focus on what you can do to meet those challenges head on.   

Stick with us because in the third and final webinar of the series, Rosie will have Emily Hutchinson back again and they will be joined by Professor James Kingsland. They will be poised to answer your questions. 

You heard about Emily earlier, so let us tell you about James. He is a ‘top doc’. Not only does he have the accolade of being the BBC’s longest serving radio phone in doctor, but he has been a national trail blazer throughout a long and illustrious career. He has been at the forefront of NHS reform for over 25 years, is immediate past President of the National Association of Primary Care, and is co-author and national clinical lead of the new care model for the NHS, the Primary Care Home - possibly the largest reform programme for primary care provision in a generation. James is also a clinical Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire and served as a Government advisor at the Department of Health for many years. We hope you will be asking him lots of questions - there isn’t much he won’t be able to help you with regarding general health at work! 

In addition to providing an opportunity to get your questions answered by the panel, this webinar will: 

Rosie Runciman is a co-founder and director of TeamDoctor.  

www.teamdoctor.org; [email protected];