Here at Hunter Gatherer Mental Health, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day by embracing this year’s theme of #BreakTheBias.
That’s why we’ve asked some of the men and women in the team to share their experiences of gender bias and what they’re doing to redefine the future for women in the workplace. Read on to discover more.
“I choose to break the bias about working mums opening up about mental health, juggling a career and children. It’s ok to not be able to do it all! Mums are superheroes!”
“I break the bias by supporting CAMHS Services with staffing gaps to ensure there is a listening ear for our next generation. Within the last year, referrals to CAMHS services increased by 15%, however staffing levels decreased due to implications from Covid-19. It has been vital to work together to provide solutions for this so that children and their families from all backgrounds are supported through this time.”
“For me, International Women’s Day is about resilience. It’s the capacity of a person to maintain their core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances. It’s important that everybody tackles workplace challenges for women to elicit real change.”
“It’s about offering flexible working arrangements to women in their careers following chosen career breaks. Having a sponsor or leader to support and advocate their advancement can make a big difference and we must seek for more of it.”
As well as championing the incredible women within the Hunter Gatherer Mental Health community, we’d also like to shine the spotlight on some of the superstar women in the NHS. In 2021, Amanda Pritchard was named Chief Executive Officer of NHS England. As the first woman in the health service’s history to hold the post , Amanda signals the start of more representative leadership. As well as Amanda, we’d also like to acknowledge Anne Blackwood from Health Enterprise East, who became CEO in 2010. In her time at HEE, Anne has helped to take more than 125 new medical technologies to the commercial market, many of which are used within UK healthcare services today. She is also a director at UK-based medical device company Ablatus Therapeutics, and the chairperson of Medovate; a company that invests in and develops new medical technologies created within the NHS. Here at Hunter Gatherer Mental Health, we train and encourage our people to recruit against our core values and to consider unconscious bias in their recruitment activity in both process and behaviours.
To demonstrate our commitment to this purpose, we have a dedicated diversity and inclusion working group, drawn from staff at all levels across the business and sponsored by one of the Directors. This way, we can consider how we can improve our behaviours and activities and continue to provide an inclusive environment with equal access to opportunities for all.
