The first Cross Association working group of the year met at ExCeL London earlier this month. HR professionals from across the three associations joined forces and expertise to explore mental health first aid.

"33% of event professionals will experience a period of mental ill health" (EventWell 2017)

Led by Christina Barsoum and Jaan Madan from MHFA England the group discovered some sobering statistics, learnt a little more about themselves and how together mental health can be addressed across all corners of our organisations and industry.

Organised by the HR working group chair, Cheryl Busby from Clarion Events Ltd all welcomed the opportunity to prioritise and alter thinking.

The group will now work on the objective of approaching barriers/tackling the stigma and compiling a mental health tool kit for ultimate use across our member organisations.

The meeting concluded with a tour (by a Clarion Gaming Event Director) of ICE which was enjoying its third day residency at ExCeL London.

Thank you to all those that attended, Cheryl (chair) and Raj (vice) for organising, MHFA England for providing thought provoking content, ICE and finally ExCeL London for hosting and providing refreshment.

The next (extra - due to demand) meeting takes place on 4th June at Diversified Communications in Brighton.

ESSA members who wish to the conversation, please email christine@essa.uk.com 

Take a couple of minutes to view PwC’s This is Me campaign which was created to mark World Mental Health Day 2016 and shown during the meeting

MHFA England: https://mhfaengland.org/