Herbert Smith hosts mental health conference

4 July 2008
 

On 10 July 2008, Herbert Smith will host and sponsor the Stand to Reason conference 'Mental health and emotional wellbeing: a call to London employers'.

The conference will be held at Herbert Smith's Exchange House offices. Speakers at the conference include Lord Dennis Stevenson, chairman of HBOS, who will give a personal account of managing depression whilst running a top business, and Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work and workplace health.

There will also be presentations from a number of organisations, including Bob Grove from the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health who will talk about the business case for taking mental health at work seriously, Jemima Jefferson from Credit Suisse who will talk about the approach to this issue in financial services, Catherine Kilfedder from BT who will talk about managing mental health at work, and Herbert Smith's Richard King who will be discussing enhancing workforce diversity.

The panel discussion at the end of this half day conference will include, in addition to the morning's other speakers, Ben Summerskill, the Chief Executive of Stonewall.

Talking about the conference, Herbert Smith's Head of Diversity and Inclusion Carolyn Lee said:

"Mental health issues are often surrounded by a stigma not found with other types of illness and swept under the carpet and ignored. By hosting this conference we hope that we can play some part in pushing mental health issues up the agenda for all employers, and that the conference and Stand to Reason can provide employers with the information and tools that they need to challenge prejudices and help all employees reach their full potential."

The conference is also being sponsored by JPMorgan Cazenove and is supported by CSIP London Development Centre.