March On Stress

March on Stress newsletter – December 2024

Added on the 19th December 2024

Welcome to our end of year news roundup.

We have really enjoyed working with so many of you in 2024 and would like to thank all of our clients and colleagues for your continued support and commitment to improving mental health support in the workplace.

This year we have made our Christmas charity donation to Alzheimer’s Society. Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas and New Year and very best wishes for 2025.

The March on Stress Team

March on Stress conference 2025

We are very excited that 2025 will see the next March on Stress conference take place, with bookings now open! 'Supporting Mental Health at Work: Evidence, Experience and Innovation’ will take place at 10 Union Street in London on 1st April 2025 – we can’t wait to see you there!

Our previous conferences have been filled with knowledge, expertise and networking opportunities and we are sure this upcoming event will be no different, with speakers so far including Professor Neil Greenberg (March on Stress and King’s College London), Charlotte Hall (UK Health Security Agency) and Professor Jo Yarker (Birkbeck, University of London and Affinity Health at Work). Look out for more names dropping soon!

Find more details and booking information here.

TRiM Masterclasses up and running

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our first TRiM masterclass at the start of December. The session, led by our fantastic TRiM expert Simona Hanson, and facilitated by associate trainer Samantha Langford, was brilliantly varied and informative with attendee comments and questions really contributing to a fast moving session.

Bookings are open for the remaining TRiM masterclasses in this inaugural series - find all the details and booking links here.

Social media

It’s been another busy year for March on Stress, and more recently that’s included us sharing more about our team and the work we do across our social media channels!

Keep up to date with our posts on Linked In and X, with regular round ups added to the website too.

If you are interested in providing a case study for us to use on our social channels, please get in touch, we love hearing about how things are working in organisations and want to share more good practice.

New SOM guidance

The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) has released an informative guide to buying occupational health services – a valuable resource for occupational health and wellbeing professionals. Read more here.

The SOM has also released an evidence-based resource for suicide postvention. The term 'suicide postvention' refers to the actions taken by an organisation to provide effective support in a sensitive manner after a death by suicide. It aims to promote recovery and prevent further adverse outcomes. The guide is available from the SOM here.

Research of interest

A study published in October 2024 looked at the effect of line manager training in mental health and the effect on presenteeism. Read more here.

With the post-pandemic shift to home working, research has been increasing in this area, including this review published in early 2024.

Autism and mental health

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has published a new resource on autism and mental health. The resource is aimed at autistic adults, their families and carers and has lots of helpful information. Find it here.

Award for Coventry and Warwickshire NHS TRiM team

The wonderful TRiM team at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust were recognised for their work recently – with an award for the support they provide to staff at the annual Q awards.

The Q Awards are a celebration of the dedicated people and teams that make up Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust.

Huge well done to the dedicated TRiM team for their well-deserved recognition.

Working with transport providers to deliver bespoke sessions

The March on Stress Operations team have been working closely with two different transport and infrastructure organisations in 2024, to provide bespoke training in support of some niche areas of work.

Taking some tried and tested, and evidence-based of course, interventions and tailoring them to the distinct needs of these two clients has been a really positive experience and we look forward to continuing to support in the future. If you would like to chat about your organisation’s needs and how we can support, please get in touch.

Coronation medal

Huge congratulations to Zoé Brooke, March on Stress Operations Manager, who was awarded a Coronation Medal by Princess Anne earlier this year. As well as her role at March on Stress, Zoé is a valued member of FANY(PRVC) (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps)).

She volunteers her time on a regular basis, and her role includes supporting her fellow volunteers as a TRiM Practitioner and Manager. As well as being involved in the Coronation of King Charles in May 2023, Zoé was also an usher at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and she is heavily involved in Remembrance services every year.

Global support

We are proud to work with a whole range of organisations from small and local, to large and global, in the support of personnel in the workplace. 2024 saw us deliver REACTMH® training down under – with regular remote training for an Australian police force, a trip to Turks and Caicos for TRiM training, remote training for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Ukraine, and a trip to the Falkland Islands (read more on this below). Our regular all comers’ courses also continue to attract delegates from near and far and we proudly support clinical patients around the world. If you are looking for support or training and are based outside the UK, don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs and available options.

Training in the Falkland Islands

In one of the more special trips abroad to deliver training we have undertaken at March on Stress – Operations Director Gavin Rogers and Senior Trainer Roy Scott, set off to the Falkland Islands in September.

It was an emotional journey for the pair who both served in the 1982 Falklands War, and returning to deliver TRiM training to members of the Falkland Islands Government gave them a valuable opportunity to revisit the island and pay their respects.

The training was extremely well received from the fantastic delegates, and Gavin and Roy were honoured to help them introduce TRiM through this first cohort of training.

In case you missed it, there is a great short video about their trip available here.

Happy retirement to a March on Stress legend

It’s the end of an era for March on Stress as one of the longest serving members of the team retires at the end of December.

Roy Scott MBE has been an integral part of March on Stress over the years, developing and delivering some of the first TRiM courses for us more than 20 years ago. His expertise dates back to his time in the military, for which he was awarded an MBE in recognition of his contribution to Trauma Risk Management. During his time with March on Stress, Roy developed his skills and knowledge to the highest levels and shared this with so many of the March on Stress clients he delivered training and workshops to. I’m sure many of you reading this will join us in wishing Roy all the very best in his retirement, with a huge thank you for everything he has done. We will really miss him.

We hope that Roy will be joining us to say farewell at the March on Stress conference in April 2025.

Team changes

The March on Stress office team moved to a new site in the New Forest in April 2024 and welcomed new Administrator Allison Larque to the office in September 2024. Allison’s background in training and exam coordination set her up perfectly for her role in co-ordinating and supporting all of the March on Stress training and operational activity.

Simona Hanson became part of our Operations team this year, bringing with her a real passion and skill for trauma and occupational mental health support. She starts an exciting wellbeing role with the University of Bath in 2025, while remaining a valuable part of the March on Stress associate training team.

Christmas and New Year office hours

Please note, we will operate with reduced staffing between Monday 23rd December 2024 and Friday 3rd January 2025, with the office closed on the bank holidays. If you need us during the festive period, please email info@marchonstress.com and, while responses may be a little more delayed than usual, we will get back to you as soon as possible.

 

 

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