Our expertise
Here’s the uncomfortable bit: most of what organisations spend on wellbeing doesn’t move the needle. When Oxford researchers examined data from 46,000 workers across 233 organisations, individual-level interventions like mindfulness apps, resilience training and wellbeing talks showed no benefit to the people who took part.
That doesn’t mean wellbeing is a lost cause. It means the effort has been aimed at the wrong level. Wellbeing improves when the conditions of work improve: when managers know how to have a mental health conversation and follow up, the environment is safe enough for people to raise things, and workload and recovery are designed rather than left to luck.
So we run two streams, designed to work together. Cerebra wellbeing programmes cover stress and emotional regulation, sleep science, recognising and intervening in burnout, and improving resilience. These are all useful life skills. For managers, mental health training, because that’s where the evidence is strongest. Trials consistently show it improves managers’ knowledge, their confidence, and how they support people who are struggling. The strongest study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found that four hours of manager training was followed by reduced work-related sickness absence, with an estimated return of roughly ten dollars for every dollar invested. That result comes from a single trial in one sector, so we treat it as the best evidence available rather than a guarantee. It’s still far better evidence than exists for almost anything else in the wellbeing market. When that’s aligned with Psychological Safety, people are more likely to speak up. Psychological Safety is here.
The crucial piece is that the streams must work together. Individually-focused efforts must work in concert with organisationally-focused efforts.
For individuals and teams, practical sessions on stress and emotional regulation, sleep science, and recognising burnout early enough to do something about it. When implemented, these are good wellbeing approaches for everyone. But on their own, they aren’t enough. Built into a programme that’s also improving the conditions around people, the skills get used, because the workplace stops undoing them.
Everything can be delivered as workshops, seminars, coaching or consulting. We work with individuals, managers, leaders and whole teams. We recommend a co-designed programme over standard sessions, delivered over multiple sessions, because one-off events change little. And we measure. Where you can share it, we look at absence data, support-service uptake and before-and-after measures. Initiatives should create change and improvements.
Note: we do not provide Mental Health First Aid as it lacks evidence in improving outcomes.
Tell us what’s driving the wellbeing conversation in your organisation. Book a free 30-minute call.
WELLBEING
STRESS
MANAGING EMOTIONS
Stress continues to be a hot topic. It’s a truism that your people are your best asset, and both they, and you, want them to perform well. How does stress impact performance? This programme explains stress, how we react to stress, and what we can do about it. We help with a personal and organisational plan, not just tips.
We’ll help you gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of emotions and how they work, including emotions and the brain, difficult emotions, the science of stress and its effects on mind and body, and how we can navigate and manage emotions in difficult times. You’ll learn strategies to use to help you and others.
RESILIENT RESPONSES
DEALING WITH BURNOUT
You’ve probably heard people say we should build resilience. We agree. We also know it can be truly difficult. In this programme we’ll work with you to unpack resilience, sorting facts from fads, and creating plans not platitudes. In our modern workplace it’s important to acknowledge sources of stress, and reservoirs of resilience.
Perhaps you or others are feeling cynical about work, fatigued, easily sick, lost, not up to it, ground down, or generally dissatisfied. Maybe you’re experiencing burnout. This short course introduces what burnout is and isn’t, what’s happening, how to recognise it, and what you can do to help yourself or your team. Along the way, we provide some measures you can use.
SLEEP
WORKPLACE WELLBEING
Sleep is one of the most critical things we can do and this is one of our most requested workshops. We all need it, and we all want it, but we don’t all understand it. You’ll delve into the fascinating biology of sleep, explore its rhythms and patterns, discover how sleep impacts your day and your day impacts sleep, look at how sleep affects memory, learning and so many other things.
Wellbeing and performance go hand-in-hand; we generally perform better when we feel better. Getting wellbeing right is a balance between personal efforts, team efforts, and organisational efforts. This programme navigates the science of wellbeing, and helps you shape a corporate wellbeing programme that works.
MENTAL HEALTH FOR MANAGERS
This is a one day workshop for managers and team leaders on understanding mental health. This will provide you with the basic knowledge you need to feel more confident with mental health concerns among your team and colleagues, and equip you with some tools in the event you need them.
Want to chat?
Use the form below, and we’ll help you with what you need. Everything is customisable. Just ask!