Garrett Learning

27/08/2026

Upcoming training with Garrett Learning - If you'd like to talk about bespoke training or people manager coaching, please do get in touch with me directly. Booking link and contact details are in the comments. Speak soon! Wendy

26/08/2026

Are you a Workplace Wellbeing Champion? Come and join us for our monthly online sessions which we run as a complimentary online service at Garrett Learning to support your learning, education and support for employees, colleagues and our friends and family.

We have some great speakers/topics planned:

Wednesday 9th September 15:00-15:50 GMT
Caroline Laudren is an Independent Financial Advisor from Consequential Planning Ltd who will be talking about Financial Wellbeing.

Wednesday 14th October 15:00-15:50 GMT
Nicola Charlwood, Holistic HR Consultant. Talking about Mental Health and managing poor productivity in the workplace.

Wednesday 11th November 15:00-15:50 GMT
Holly Bolt from Nurturing ND she’ll be talking about making work environments neuroinclusive.

Wednesday 16th December 15:00-15:50 GMT
Drop-in support session with Wendy Garrett to ask any workplace wellbeing support questions, share what's been going on and as a community group, help each other.

Wednesday 13th January 2027 15:00-15:50 GMT
Dan Reid, founder and Mark Taylor from Men Walking and Talking CIC have created nationwide weekly walks for men to connect

Wednesday 10th February 15:00-15:50 GMT
Hannah Darby, is an holistic healer, grief educator, speaker and author. We’ll be exploring how to create grief-informed workplaces, where people can thrive.

To register, please visit:
www.garrettlearning.co.uk/services/workplace-well-being-champion

25/08/2026

The kind-hearted Sam Holt from Back to Life Cancer Support joined us at our complimentary online Workplace Wellbeing Champion session in August to talk about cancer. I, and the group were so appreciative of her time, guidance and knowledge.

Cancer has a human and economic cost to our businesses, with an annual cost of £85 billion to UK employers, which includes loss of output when employees are unable to work, statutory sick pay and the hidden costs of temporary staff, recruitment, conflict resolution and administration.

Sam shared that every cancer journey is different and will need different support and treatment. As an employer/collegaue/friend there are some ‘hidden effects’ to be aware of:
-‘I used to be good at this and now I can't do…’
-Sam spoke about ‘Chemo brain’ or brain fog
-Experiencing swollen limbs - it may become difficult for people to write/type
-‘Scanxiety’ is a thing, where there is a pressure surrounding upcoming scans and waiting for the results
-Feeling worried about other people's reactions
-If still at work, they will need to take time off for appointments
-Can feel out of touch with what's going on

Sam shared some guidance on how to support an employee going through cancer, by talking through the options with the employee to see what would be helpful to them, such as:
-Providing weekly calls to keep them in the ‘loop’ and providing some kind of normality to their week
-Email team updates/minutes to meetings
-Share good news such as team personal achievements, births, holidays, retirements etc

Once the person is ready to come back to work, we can ask questions to see how they are feeling about returning to work, what they feel they might struggle with and what support they might need. This is where reasonable adjustments are considered:
-Flexible working: they might have more energy in the morning verses afternoon.
-Work from home as the commute can be tiring
-Not travelling in rush hour to minimise contact with others as their immune system is lowered
-Additional breaks during the work day
-Address any distracting background noise

Please note, under the Equality Act 2010, Sam shared that people who have been diagnosed with cancer are considered to have a disability.

Sam shared lots of information about what to say and what not to say when the employee is off work or returning to work. For example, ‘You look well’ could be us assuming that they’re ok. Sam suggested that it’s better to say “It’s good to have you back”.
If the employee is off work, to agree what to tell the wider team and that it’s also ok to say that “I don’t want my medical details shared; however, thanks for asking”.
I was really shocked to hear that people have said ‘That's a good cancer’ and ‘Don’t eat … , it feeds the cancer’. These comments and offering advice aren’t helpful or supportive.
If we don’t know what to say, it’s better to say just that ‘ I don’t know what to say, thanks for telling me’ or ‘You can talk to me about anything, or nothing at all’

Sam offers support to workplaces and individuals; she has lots of services for you, others and the corporate space, including her RISE programme and if you’re able to travel to Worcester, Sam hosts monthly drop-in sessions to talk in a supportive environment.

25/08/2026

The kind-hearted Sam Holt from Back to Life Cancer Support joined us at our complimentary online Workplace Wellbeing Champion session in August to talk about cancer. I, and the group were so appreciative of her time, guidance and knowledge.

Cancer has a human and economic cost to our businesses, with an annual cost of £85 billion to UK employers, which includes loss of output when employees are unable to work, statutory sick pay and the hidden costs of temporary staff, recruitment, conflict resolution and administration.

Sam shared that every cancer journey is different and will need different support and treatment. As an employer/collegaue/friend there are some ‘hidden effects’ to be aware of:
‘I used to be good at this and now I can't do…’
Sam spoke about ‘Chemo brain’ or brain fog
Experiencing swollen limbs - it may become difficult for people to write/type
‘Scanxiety’ is a thing, where there is a pressure surrounding upcoming scans and waiting for the results
Feeling worried about other people's reactions
If still at work, they will need to take time off for appointments
Can feel out of touch with what's going on

Sam shared some guidance on how to support an employee going through cancer, by talking through the options with the employee to see what would be helpful to them, such as:
Providing weekly calls to keep them in the ‘loop’ and providing some kind of normality to their week
Email team updates/minutes to meetings
Share good news such as team personal achievements, births, holidays, retirements etc

Once the person is ready to come back to work, we can ask questions to see how they are feeling about returning to work, what they feel they might struggle with and what support they might need. This is where reasonable adjustments are considered:
Flexible working: they might have more energy in the morning verses afternoon.
Work from home as the commute can be tiring
Not travelling in rush hour to minimise contact with others as their immune system is lowered
Additional breaks during the work day
Address any distracting background noise

Please note, under the Equality Act 2010, Sam shared that people who have been diagnosed with cancer are considered to have a disability.

Sam shared lots of information about what to say and what not to say when the employee is off work or returning to work. For example, ‘You look well’ could be us assuming that they’re ok. Sam suggested that it’s better to say “It’s good to have you back”.
If the employee is off work, to agree what to tell the wider team and that it’s also ok to say that “I don’t want my medical details shared; however, thanks for asking”.
I was really shocked to hear that people have said ‘That's a good cancer’ and ‘Don’t eat … , it feeds the cancer’. These comments and offering advice aren’t helpful or supportive.
If we don’t know what to say, it’s better to say just that ‘ I don’t know what to say, thanks for telling me’ or ‘You can talk to me about anything, or nothing at all’

Sam offers support to workplaces and individuals; she has lots of services for you, others and the corporate space, including her RISE programme and if you’re able to travel to Worcester, Sam hosts monthly drop-in sessions to talk in a supportive environment.

Find out more about Sam by visiting the website or connect with her on LinkedIn:

www.backtolifecancersupport.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-holt-backtolifecancersupport/

Thank you Sam! We appreciated your time on the session. Thank you to all who joined us.

In September, we will be joined by Caroline Laudren who will be talking about Financial Wellbeing and the impact it can have on ourselves and those around us. Caroline helps people feel more confident about their money, whatever your situation.
Connect with Caroline in advance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-laudren-quillet-dippfs-b29bb820/

Please join us on 9th September, 15:00-15:50GMT, please register here: https://www.garrettlearning.co.uk/services/workplace-well-being-champion/

24/08/2026

It was great to run the new MHFA England® Mental Health First Aid for Managers programme, and I was even more excited to work with some huge organisations, Taiyib from BBC Studioworks and Jordan from Sky / At The Races who are leading the way with supporting their teams with mental health and workplace wellbeing support.

I love the smaller groups of people, we get to really understand their reasons for being on the programme and to make a bigger impact.

We learned:

🔴 Awareness about not bringing our own prejudice into the conversational space.

🔴 To take the team members' issues and concerns as a separate entity

🔴 Be a better listener instead of bringing in the external noise

🔴 Working with people, working different shifts and different patterns and acknowledging the job is 24/7, as a manager to be conscious of supporting all the team in their own individual ways and using the resources to provide around-the-clock support.

🔴As people managers, we are extremely busy people, however supporting the team with their poor mental health might not be able to 'wait'

🔴 Recognising that we, as people managers, can't do everything, so it's about using other appropriate people to make an impact

Great couple of days and two more MHFAiders into the community! Great work!

p.s. It's Monday, keep the mental health and wellbeing at work conversations going 😉

19/08/2026

Nice perks to my job!

I was formally invited to the opening night of The Malvern restaurant at Brockencote Hall , Worcestershire, which is part of the Eden Hotel Collection. it is beautiful and the food and cocktails were delicious. Thank you Suzanne Draper for the invite. Great to see you!
I'm really look forward to working together with Brokencote as of January. Exciting times ahead!!

Lovely to catch up with Marie Carter and a glimpse of Robert Elliot from Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce from across the room.

Hubby and I loved the evening. Beautiful setting, great company, stunning cars by Dynasty Partners. Better start saving!! That Porsche was in my brand colours!

19/08/2026

Nice perks to my job!

I was formally invited to the opening night of The Malvern restaurant at Brokencote Hall, Worcestershire, which is part of the Eden Hotel Collection. it is beautiful and the food and cocktails were delicious. Thank you Suzanne Draper for the invite. Great to see you!
I'm really look forward to working together with Brokencote as of January. Exciting times ahead!!

Lovely to catch up with Marie Carter and a glimpse of Robert Elliot from Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce from across the room.

Hubby and I loved the evening. Beautiful setting, great company, stunning cars by Dynasty Partners. Better start saving!! That Porsche was in my brand colours!

WomenWho

18/08/2026

'What are you carrying around in your rucksack?'

Thank you Daniel Pownall from Canada Life, for sharing the analogy that what we carry around with us (life stresses) can weigh us down and everything that is stressful is like adding another brick to the rucksack. A nice visual that it really resonated with Paul Murphy fron Andron Facilities Management - I agree!

It's great that Brett Martin Ltd have come back to refresh their skills and shared the importance of talking about mental health in the workplace and recognising how things change. Lovely to see David King-Seal again.

Thanks Chris Ariss from FSi Promat by Etex for sharing the great work and insight you do at Etex and that you are building your internal team of Mental Health First Aiders to provide wider support for the team.

Thank you Michele Wright from WHP Telecoms Limited who has a list of actions to put in place to really make a difference to employee wellbeing.

and Hannah Griffiths who reflected on the many roles and took away that they are doing the right things and has some new resources to offer out as options for others in need.

I would suggest, this was a morning well spent. Thanks team! 💚

18/08/2026

18/08/2026

Mental Health First Aiders aren't a tick-box exercise... MHFAiders offer a space to have a supportive and compassionate conversation and help your people stay in work. Let's chat about what this could look like for you...