Mon, 08 November, 2021
To coincide with INTERNATIONAL MENSDAY 2021 on 19 November, TWI’s Tipper Group has invited David Beeney – whose business, Breaking the Silence, has quickly established itself as one of the leading advisors in the UK on ‘mental health in the workplace’ – to give a talk to TWI staff on the subject of mental health amongst men.
David is a qualified Mental Health Counsellor affiliated to the British Association of Counsellors and Practitioners (BACP) and has been a trustee for Mind. His background as a mental health expert stems from his secret battles with panic attacks which, in 2016, led to him deciding to change career, after over 30 successful years in newspapers and magazines, including as Commercial Director for Auto Trader. Subsequently, David has been recognised as one of the top 101 influencers globally on employee engagement in both 2019 and 2020.
The purpose of TWI’s Tipper Group today is to create and promote an inclusive culture that inspires, attracts and supports the recruitment and career development of individuals irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, beliefs, (dis)abilities and socio-economic background. It was originally formed by a group of female engineers from TWI, The Welding Institute and the National Structural Integrity Centre (NSIRC) in autumn 2016, and it is named after Constance Tipper, a Cambridge female engineer specialising in fracture who investigated the liberty ship wartime failures.
In his talk, David will focus on why men, in particular, struggle to talk about their true mental wellbeing, and how we can all change our current mind set to support each other and bring about positive change. Some of the learning outcomes that David hopes his attendees will take away from the talk include: the importance of using the right language with each other to encourage honest and open conversation about wellbeing; how we can inspire each other to be more open by saying “it’s okay not to be okay” and sharing our own vulnerabilities; the importance of being kinder to ourselves and the true value of self-compassion; and how to identify that someone might be struggling and best open up a conversation with them.
David told us, “Our mental health has never been so challenged on mass, as we struggle to cope with the global pandemic. Men in particular continue to struggle to be open about their true mental health and this leads to nearly 8 out of 10 suicides being male. The only way we are going to ease this mental health crisis engulfing society is to eradicate the stigma, and help everybody to realise that is really is okay not to be okay.”
The Tipper Group talk for INTERNATIONAL MENSDAY 2021 takes place on Friday 19 November, 09:00 – 10:00, and is a hybrid event which TWI staff can attend either in person at the Cambridge site or by Zoom.
More information about David’s Breaking the Silence business.
More information about INTERNATIONAL MENSDAY 2021, 19 November.