Dr. Richard Wynne, Director of Work Research Centre (Irland), Coordinator of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion, will be one of the speakers at the International Conference “Mental Health in the Workplace” to be conducted on 8 October, 2016 in the frame of the Congress on Mental Health: Meeting the Needs of the XXI Century.  Dr. Richard Wynne will present his report “Mental health promotion at work-European models and experiences”.

The issue of mental health at work has been increasingly recognised as a major issue in recent years. The European Commission, the European Health and Safety Agency and many national Governments have all undertaken initiatives in the area. For example, the Mental Health Pact of the Commission (2007) was and remains an important Commission initiative, which focused on raising awareness, developing policy, developing tools and collecting examples of good practice. Other initiatives came from a Public Health perspective (such as the ENWHPs initiatives on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace), while others still came from an education and vocational training perspective as well as from an employment and labour market perspective.

Dr. Richard Wynne’s report will some of the major outputs of these initiatives – it will focus on the reasons why dealing with mental health and wellbeing issues is so important, the economic costs of poor mental health and the nature of interventions that can be undertaken. It will outline the need for integrated approaches to the issue that go beyond the requirements of current legislation and gains that are to be made for individuals, employers, Public Health and Social Insurance agencies through the adoption of good practice.

About Dr. Richard Wynne

Dr. Richard Wynne has been Director of Work Research Centre since 1988.  He has worked in the area of workplace health for more than 20 years in Ireland and abroad.  He was a founding member of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion and was responsible for setting up the European Network for Mental Health promotion.

He has worked for Irish and EU agencies, including the European Commission and the Eurofound.  His most recent work was for DG-Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, which was to develop Guidance for employers on the management of mental health issues in the workplace.