sdc forthcoming conference and events calendar

SDC organises a variety of national conferences, seminars and workshops across the range of work with which we are involved. As an organisation, we use innovative event formats and activities to promote our work and commissions we have undertaken for clients. Further information about SDC's event management function

Information about SDC's forthcoming programme of conferences and events appears below:

Health, Work and Wellbeing in the Third Sector
Monday 6th September 2010, 12.45pm - 3.00pm
SCVO, Mansfield Traquair Centre, Edinburgh

A free seminar for managers and trustees in SCVO member organisations

Background
SCVO and SDC have launched a new project to develop good practice in workplace wellbeing in the Scottish third sector. The project is supported by the Department for Work and Pensions via the Health, Work and Wellbeing Challenge Fund.

The Challenge Fund is an initiative designed to enable small to medium sized organisations to address issues that may affect the health and wellbeing of employees. This will enable the Department for Work and Pensions to produce a set of strong examples of implementation of the ‘business case’ particularly around mental health and wellbeing. The project supports activities across the public, private and third sectors.

This project will support three organisations to develop and implement an action plan for monitoring and improving wellbeing in the workplace. SDC will provide training, development and implementation support to the selected organisations, in exchange for a commitment on the part of those organisations to commit time to developing and implementing the plans. It is hoped that three detailed case studies will come out of this, alongside a set of more general recommendations for the sector.

The UK Government and Scottish Government are keen to mainstream wellbeing into activities undertaken by companies and organisations. Whilst managing stress and improving the experience of people who experience mental ill health is important, this work takes a wider focus. The value of positive mental health in terms of productivity, resilience to change, and dealing with uncertainty is clear. This project is therefore intended to be a part of strategic planning as much as it is part of HR and Health at Work activities.

As well as working with the beneficiary organisations, SDC and SCVO will also be asking for examples of good practice from the third sector to include in a wider document giving some brief overviews of practice.

Seminar
SDC will be running a free seminar for SCVO member organisations interested in finding out more about this project, on Monday 6th September. SCVO are hosting the event at the Mansfield Traquair Centre in Edinburgh from 1245-1500. This will be of relevance to all third sector organisations.

The seminar will allow you to get a sense for the business case for undertaking wellbeing work, and especially why it is doubly important in times of financial pressure. There will be the opportunity to hear about this and other projects, and to discuss the issues.

Who Should Attend
SDC is particularly keen to hear from medium sized third sector organisations, of between 100 and 250 employees, who might be interested in becoming involved in this work. We hope that a range of organisations, from within and outside the traditional health and disability sectors, will be interested in this opportunity. We would also be very keen to hear from interested Third Sector Interface organisations, as we feel that their reach, influence and ability to share good practice locally could be of great interest to the sector.

For more information about the seminar on 6th September, e-mail events@sdcmh.org.uk

If you are interested in attending download a booking form. Completed forms can be returned by e-mail to janine@sdcmh.org.uk or posted to;-

Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health
17a Graham Street
Edinburgh EH6 5QN

Non-SDC Events

Bipolar Scotland AGM and Annual Conference 2010
'Celebrating Self-Help'
Saturday 18 September 2010, 10.00am - 3.45pm
Menzies Hotel, Glasgow

Keynote Speaker: Will Lyons, Journalist with the Wall Street Journal

Will wrote an article for the Scotsman and has been interviewed by Fergal Keane on BBC Radio 4, on his experience of caring for his wife who has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Aileen Bell and Alan Douglas from Bipolar Scotland will be giving a talk on self-help groups – the story so far.

Afternoon Session Workshops;-
Welfare Reform – Which Way Now?
Self-Help groups – Do They work?
Participative workshops with Universal Comedy and Tai Chi.

Bipolar Scotland will be able to meet the cost of travel expenses for those in severe financial hardship.

For a booking form, please contact Bipolar Scotland on 0141 560 2050, or e-mail info@bipolarscotland.org.uk