MHW Community of Practice
Key details
- The Mentally Healthy Work Community of Practice (MHWCOP) is held on the first Thursday of every month. If the recurring invite is not already in your calendar, please register through the GHSL event page
- The MHWCOP is held online via MS Teams, however, we may occasionally look to host in-person events
- The MHWCOP will usually be about 1 hour - 1.5 hours in duration
- Sessions will follow a similar format each month that includes:
- A guest speaker or think piece: to challenge and develop practitioner knowledge or capability
- Agency spotlight: a deeper insight to one agency's initiative or activities
- Facilitated discussion: an opportunity for more general discussion of current practice, issues, questions, or upcoming work
- Networking (optional): a chance to chat and catch up with peers across the sector
Rotating Chair
The Mentally Healthy Work Community of Practice is for the sector, by the sector with the support of the Government Health and Safety Lead. The MHWCOP is co-Chaired by 3-4 different agencies each year.
The Chairs for 2023 are:
|
Millie Thompson |
Dr Kate Bone |
|
Millie has a background in work‑related mental health and wellbeing, previously working for In her spare time, Millie enjoys taking her two samoyed dogs on adventures outdoors. |
Kate is Manager Wellness (Research and Development) at Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities. Kate has a PhD in workplace wellbeing from Monash University in Melbourne and has published in international peer-reviewed journals with over 190 academic citations (Research Gate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kate-Bone(external link)). Kate has led research projects in Australia and New Zealand and takes an evidence-based, holistic approach to workplace wellbeing recognising work environments as high-impact places to enhance hauora/wellbeing. Kate’s current role is to lead an evidence-based workplace health and wellbeing strategy for 3,000+ employees at Kāinga Ora.
Kate is also a qualified yoga instructor and in her spare time enjoys yoga, surfing, gardening, travelling and socialising. |
|
Matthew Leaver |
Anna Nelson |
|
Matthew is Principal Advisor – Wellbeing, Engagement and Capability at Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health where he works in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing team. He started his career in frontline healthcare working as a clinical psychologist, with a special interest in the interface between physical and mental health. More recently he has worked in organisational and leadership development, primarily in the health and disability sector. His current focus is engaging with kaimahi to build an organisation-wide, sustainable approach to wellbeing. He lives in Wellington with his partner and two small children. |
Anna (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) has been in the role of Wellness Manager at NZ Police since November 2020. She is part of the Safer People team within NZ Police and leads the Wellness team whose focus is on psychological and emotional wellbeing for NZ police employees. Anna is a registered social worker with over 25 years’ experience of working in a variety of mental health and addiction settings including in clinical practice, education, workforce development, systems development and planning and funding. Anna has just been awarded her PhD. She is a mother of 2 children (Trilby and Augie) and wife to Ben and lives in Pukerua Bay just north of Wellington. |
Topics
Each forum session will have a different theme or topic of focus and will invite an expert or thought-leader along as a guest speaker to present to the group, followed by an open Q&A session. Each session will also ask an agency to present on a particular item they are working on, challenge or idea.
| # | Date | Chair | Theme/Focus | Guest speaker | Agency spotlight |
| 1 | Thursday 17th November, 2022 | Kate Bone | Signal: an organisational intervention to address psychosocial risks through enhanced relational leadership capabilities in line-managers | Prof Tim Bentley, ECU Centre for Work + Wellbeing | GHSL: MHW Programme |
| Holiday period | |||||
| 2 | Thursday 2nd February, 2023 | Millie Thompson |
Mentally Healthy Work 101: managing psychosocial risks and enhancing wellbeing |
Joelle Mitchell, Flourish Dx |
FENZ: Whanaungtanga Programme (Part one) |
| 3 | Thursday 2nd March, 2023 | Matthew Leaver | Better Work: WorkSafe’s vision for Mentally Healthy Work | Phil Parkes, WorkSafe NZ | - |
| 4 | Thursday 6th April, 2023 | Millie Thompson | Setting a strategic direction: for mentally healthy work | Kate Milburn, Umbrella | Ministry of Health: strategic plan for wellbeing |
| 5 | Thursday 4th May, 2023 | Kate Bone | Who ‘owns’ mentally healthy work in an organisation? Differentiating psychological H&S and wellbeing and the overlap between H&S, HR, and OD | Chris Jones, Department of Corrections | NZTE: using the Mental Wellbeing by Design tool |
| 6 | Thursday 1st June, 2023 | Anna Nelson | Identifying and understanding psychosocial risks in our workplaces: data and insights | TBC | Kainga Ora |
| 7 | Thursday 6th July, 2023 | Matthew Leaver | Psychosocial risk deep-dive: traumatic or disruptive event | TBC | TBC |
| 8 | Thursday 3rd August, 2023 | Kate Bone | Effective interventions: primary interventions and work by design | TBC | NZTA |
| 9 | Thursday 7th September, 2023 | Millie Thompson | Effective interventions: Psychosocial safety climate | TBC | FENZ: Whanaungtanga Programme (Part two) |
| 10 | Thursday 5th October, 2023 | Anna Nelson | Incorporating Te Ao Maori worldviews into mentally healthy work | TBC | Auckland Council |
| 11 | Thursday 2nd November, 2023 | Matthew Leaver | Psychosocial risk deep-dive: workload and work intensity | TBC | TBC |
| 12 | Thursday 7th December, 2023 | Millie Thompson | Psychosocial risk deep dive: remote, lone, and flexible, and insecure work | Dr Kate Bone, Kainga Ora | MPI |