September is back. But are people really okay? Two new articles on post-holiday pressure, World Suicide Prevention Day, MHFA training, South Yorkshire funding and a few things from August. Mike Lawrence · September workplace mental health and wellbeing September is back. But are people really okay? The diary fills. The inbox wakes up. The year starts speeding towards its final stretch. Some people come back refreshed. Others come back already running on empty. If the same pressure returns...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Your people may not say they are struggling A short August reflection on hidden pressure, honest conversations and practical support before stress becomes a crisis. Mike Lawrence · Workplace mental health and wellbeing Your people may not say they are struggling. The workplace usually says it first. Silence. Tension. Mistakes. Low energy. Absence. Managers unsure whether to step in - or what to say if they do. Workplace wellbeing should change what happens on Monday - not simply create...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome to this month’s newsletter - and thank you, as always, for opening and reading. I genuinely appreciate it. A few of you have said recently that you look forward to these monthly reflections, and that means a lot. There is already enough noise landing in people’s inboxes, so I never take your time or attention for granted. As I write this, England are into the semi-final of the World Cup - which adds a little excitement to the summer - but the temperature has also been...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, Welcome to June. Six months gone. Six months left. That alone is worth a pause. Because the question isn’t just: “Where has the year gone?” The better question is: “How am I really doing?” Not the polite answer. Not the automatic answer. Not the “I’m fine, thanks” answer. The honest one. I’m seeing a lot of people who are still showing up. Still delivering. Still replying. Still smiling. Still carrying responsibility. But underneath? They’re tired. The warmer weather helps. The...
4 months ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader, In my previous newsletter, I mentioned that I was attending a garden party… although I kept the details fairly quiet at the time. I can now reveal it was The King’s Trust 50th Anniversary Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. A week after Mental Health Awareness Week, it actually felt slightly ironic — and perhaps quite fitting — to spend the afternoon surrounded by conversations centred around community, opportunity, resilience and support. The charity was originally founded in 1976...
5 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Warmer mornings. Lighter evenings. A sense that things should feel different. And yet, for many organisations and individuals I’ve been working with recently… 👉 The pressure hasn’t changed. April was a busy one — MHFA courses, refresher sessions, speaking engagements… even recording a podcast. But across all of them, there’s been a constant thread. People don’t always know what to say when it really matters. I was in a workshop recently and opened with a simple question: “How are...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, Spring is in the air — and I hope you’ve had the chance to pause, reset, and enjoy the Easter break. There’s something about this time of year… a subtle shift in energy, a sense of things opening up again. Maybe it’s even time to reach into the wardrobe and bring out the lighter, brighter colours… even if life itself still feels a little heavy. And yet, as we move through April, I keep hearing the same thing:“Where are the weeks going?” Quarter one has already passed — and before...
6 months ago • 7 min read
Hi Reader, It’s March. Normally, I’d begin with something about fresh starts or longer days. Instead, many of us switched on the TV or radio this morning to reports of overnight escalation. Airstrikes.Political leaders responding.Commentary already framing what it all means. And when uncertainty has already been running in the background for months — cost-of-living pressures, performance strain, ongoing global instability — it doesn’t land in isolation. It stacks. Whatever the merits.Whatever...
8 months ago • 8 min read
Hi Reader, You can tell it’s February — the gym’s starting to thin out already. The “new year, new me” crowd has quietly disappeared, the headlines are still shouting, and most people are just getting on with it — a bit more tired than they expected to be by now. If you went by the rhetoric alone — documentaries like Frontline, rolling news, political soundbites — you’d think we were on the brink of war with Russia. But that’s not what people are actually talking about. What’s coming up far...
8 months ago • 7 min read