Stress Management in Teesside

Over the last couple of weeks, I've agreed to run a couple of Stress Management Competencies Roadshows in Teesside, one in Hartlepool and one in Redcar.

This has put me in touch with two excellent and committed workplace health improvement people in Teesside, Steven Carter and Richie Andrew, who are doing great work locally to prevent and reduce stress and to promote healthy workplaces in general.

A good example is South Tees NHS' How Healthy Is Your Business website. It's great to see this kind of regional investment in workplace health promotion.

I've noticed that compared to Scotland, and more recently, Wales, who have been prioritising and investing heavily in workplace health promotion, the situation in England is very patchy. Some areas such as the North East and South West appear to being doing a lot of good work and other areas little if anything. Why there should be such stark regional variations is a bit of mystery, as the arguments about the value of prevention have surely long since been won. Certainly where stress and mental well-being are concerned, prevention is hugely more cost-effective than 'cure'.