Accenture’s Barbara Harvey speaks of her pride at being part of This Can Happen 2018
Barbara Harvey
Managing Director
Accenture Research
Barbara is a Managing Director in Accenture where she leads Accenture’s thought leadership on inclusion and diversity, with a focus on women and women in technology.
We wanted to show the world that mental health isn’t a minority issue, that it affects us all.
Accenture’s Barbara Harvey speaks of her pride at being part of This Can Happen 2018
The room was packed, the lights were dimmed, the stage was empty and I was sitting in the front row, mic’d up and running through my presentation in my head. Then a video started rolling on the big screen and, as the music signalled the opening of This Can Happen 2018, I felt my eyes prick with the emotion of it all. This finally was happening. A conference hall full-to-bursting with people like me, who see the workplace as being central to tackling the issues around mental health and who are determined to make a difference. Pride, excitement, anticipation…. And nerves!
From the moment Neil, Jonny and Zoe asked whether Accenture might be their research partner and until the moment I stepped down from that stage my focus was how on how we could develop a piece of research that would help them achieve their goal. We wanted to show the world that mental health isn’t a minority issue, that it affects us all. And that employers truly can make a difference. And that’s just what we did. We showed that 9 out of 10 workers in the UK are impacted by mental health, either directly or through someone they know. And we showed that when employers create a more open workplace culturemore workers seek help and feel safe to talk.
But while sharing our research findings was a moment of tremendous pride during the day, the day brought us so much more. Partnering with, and just being at, This Can Happen – and the presence in the audience of our UK CEO Oliver Benzecry - sent a BIG signal through the organization; demand for our mental health allies training is stronger than ever and we’ve been continuing to roll out awareness training to the managing directors who lead our business in the UK, with many more of them speaking out on a personal level on Time to Talk Day than ever before. We’ve also been in the studio making movies to help us spread the message that it’s safe to talk about mental health. Internationally, we’re launching mental health support programmes too. I’m writing this from The Dock, in Dublin where the faces of our Irish allies smile out from a poster by the coffee machine; our allies programme in Poland was the most recent to go live.
So, when the team at This Can Happen asked whether we’d be a research partner again this year there was only one answer. Yes. We look forward to seeing you there.
Our proud partners
A&O Shearman
A&O Shearman is a global law firm formed from the merger of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. Committed to building a culture of openness and support, A&O Shearman works with us to champion mental wellbeing across the legal sector and beyond.
Beyond
Beyond is a mental health charity which was formed in 2018 by award winning campaigner Jonny Benjamin MBE. It was created to address the growing need for mental health support for young people. 75% of mental health issues begin in adolescence and yet, according to the NHS, three-quarters of young people who experience mental illness are not receiving treatment. Beyond has so far given out various grants to organisations across the UK who support vulnerable youngsters. The charity is currently developing a nationwide mental health festival for schools called Now and Beyond which will take place in February 2021.
GSK
GSK is a fully focused biopharma company. They prioritise innovation in vaccines andspecialty medicines, maximising the increasing opportunities to prevent and treat disease. At the heart of this is their R&D focus on the science of the immune system, human genetics and advanced technologies, and their world-leading capabilities in vaccines and medicines development. GSK is focusing on four therapeutic areas: infectious diseases, HIV, oncology, and immunology.
Haleon
Haleon Plc is a British multinational consumer healthcare company and the largest consumer healthcare business in the world. They are 100% focussed on everyday health with theirleading brands being built on science, innovation and human understanding. Haleion exists to deliver better everyday health with humanity.
Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a global marketing communications company. They work at the intersection of technology, society, policy and media, adding value to culture — to shape and re-shape it. They do it all – from creative concepting to content development and production, creative technology and user experience design. Their team develop and execute ideas that earn attention and drive business impact.
