Businesses to be shown how to combat stress

Zainah Khan, who launched Chakra Corporate Mental Strength in 2016, will be on hand at this year’s YEN Expo conference to enhance people’s understanding of individual experiences of stress.

Ms Khan said: "Mental health issues affect everyone, and that doesn't exclude the business community. This is the perfect time to get businesses thinking about how mentally healthy their workforces are and, if there are improvements to be made, we want to help."

YEN Expo2017 takes place at Bradford College’s David Hockney campus on November 6 with the Chakra lunchtime clinic going on from 12.15 to 1.30pm.

The Expo, run by Yorkshire Enterprise Network (YEN), is expected to attract more than 1,500 delegates. The event is free to attend for delegates and there will be £1bn worth of industry and services on show.

Leeds-based Chakra Corporate runs training programmes designed to destigmatise mental health issues in the workplace and increase resilience to stress by equipping staff to combat ill health at the earliest stage.

Ms Khan said: “Mental ill health leads to underperformance and that costs businesses in absenteeism and presenteeism - which is when staff are mentally unwell but still coming to work, for a variety of reasons.

“In the UK, depression and anxiety currently equate to 90 million sick days per year. The cost of absenteeism is £8bn per year and the more frightening one, presenteeism, costs an eye-watering £18bn per year. So paying attention to mental health is an essential investment into human capital.

"A business’s most important asset is its people and employers will soon see the results of taking mental health seriously when staff begin to perform better."