This time 12 months ago, I was pleased to reveal that Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce signed the ‘Time to Change‘ pledge to transform the way we think and act about mental health at work.

In early 2018, Worcestershire County Council announced that the county had been chosen as one of a handful of areas in England to support communities, workplaces and schools to take action to end negative attitudes and behaviours towards people experiencing mental health problems.

The Chamber leads on the employer strand of the movement, and we have been working closely with businesses across the county to establish how we can encourage others to sign up to support the Time to Change Worcestershire hub.

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Dawn Hardman, our director of HR, and Lucy Allen, PR executive, attended the Worcestershire Ambassadors’ Time to Change lunch at Hogarth’s Stone Manor in Kidderminster.

Held in support of the initiative, the afternoon event welcomed two motivational speakers – GB Wheelchair Athlete Mel Nicholls and John Peters, form Pilot of the Royal Air Force.

Both speakers shared their unique and inspirational experiences in relation to the importance of normalising mental health problems and encouraging people to come together so to take the next step forward.

I’d like to ask the local business community to think about their own plans to help to raise awareness of mental health problems and how we can work together to dispel negative stereotypes.

Local businesses that are interested in finding out more about Time to Change, and how to get involved, are able to contact Amanda Wright on amandaw@comfirst.org.uk.