Coventry and Warwickshire Mind’s first staff conference since before the pandemic took place at Broadstreet Rugby Club on Tuesday 10 October 2023, World Mental Health Day.
The day kicked off by looking back at the past few years as an organisation – what challenges had we faced and how did we overcome them? We wrote down the things we wanted to leave behind on paper, scrunched them up and threw them across the room – the pandemonium of a snowball fight then ensued!
Then, in groups, we brainstormed how we were working towards meeting our five business aims – impact, diversity, innovation, courage and inclusivity – and how we can do more to demonstrate these in the future. Ideas were fed back to the room, with some staff sharing their ideas using song and dance!
Moving onto the future, we each wrote a pledge card to remind us of what we can do to work towards embodying our values and being more impactful, diverse, innovative, courageous and inclusive over the next twelve months and beyond. These values are at the heart of everything we do and we strive to demonstrate these across all our operations.
After a drinks break, we welcomed our guest speakers for the day. Cliff Faulder from AboutFace gave a talk on racial equity and his experience of being a Black man in society. Next, former employee-turned-trustee, Rachel Lawley, spoke to us about trauma-informed therapy and how its principles can apply to different methods of mental health care.
Finally, we had the privilege of welcoming Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind, to talk to us about her new initiative, ‘Federation First’, which aims to empower local Minds across the network. A massive thank you to all our speakers for their time and insight.
Over the lunch break, staff took part in various wellbeing activities, including craft and yoga. It was great to see everyone take part, including our CEO, Steven, who thoroughly enjoyed the Zumba session! We then repeated the activities and talks in the afternoon to accommodate all our staff.
Delivering busy services means it can be hard for staff across the organisation to come together. The conference was a wonderful day enjoyed by all, and it was great to give teams a chance to meet and catch up with colleagues from across the charity.