The awards recognise organisations and individuals in our membership who are making mental health a priority at work.
The awards were presented by Mark Southern, Chief Executive of WPA Health Insurance, our awards partner, and hosted by Phil Canale, Director of Workplace Programmes at MindForward Alliance. The evening also included a conversation with the musician Davina Sowers of Davina & The Vagabonds about her experience of mental health and recovery, followed by a live performance.
Team awards
Cultivating Belonging and Inclusion: National Wealth Fund
A newly formed organisation that set out to build a culture of belonging from day one, with open conversations about mental health and more than half of its people managers trained in psychological safety and inclusive leadership.
Highly Commended: BDO, for a firm-wide peer-to-peer recognition platform reaching more than 8,000 colleagues.
Most Innovative Practice: BDO
BDO recognised the link between women’s health and mental wellbeing and trained its Mental Health First Aiders on menstruation, endometriosis and menopause. Every participant reported greater confidence in supporting colleagues.
Highly Commended: KPMG UK, for a cross-company mentoring programme for Black Heritage and Ethnic Minority colleagues.
Outstanding Social Impact: A&O Shearman
Through a two-year partnership with United for Global Mental Health, more than 800 colleagues helped raise £640,000, and its lawyers gave more than 1,000 hours of pro bono research to build the legal case for mental health reform across 11 countries.
Highly Commended: PwC UK, for a technology-for-good programme supporting charities tackling homelessness, financial exclusion and mental health.
Excellence in Supporting People Managers: KPMG UK
KPMG UK’s Resilient Leadership workshops take partners and directors through psychological safety and leading mentally healthy teams, with partners co-delivering every session. Almost all attendees said they left with the confidence to have open conversations about wellbeing.
Highly Commended: KPMG India, for people manager training delivered by internal trainers to more than 5,000 leaders.
Pioneering Mental Wellbeing Strategy: KPMG India
KPMG India turned separate initiatives into a firm-wide strategy covering six dimensions of wellbeing, reaching around 23,000 colleagues with 90 per cent participation.
Highly Commended: A&O Shearman, for a strategy owned at the most senior level of the firm.
Individual awards
Trailblazer in Workplace Wellbeing: Liberty Duncan, SMBC Group
Liberty joined SMBC Group as a graduate and has since transformed its wellbeing provision across EMEA, including a line manager programme that reaches more than 500 managers.
Inspirational Leadership: Nicola Walters, National Wealth Fund
Nicola built wellbeing into National Wealth Fund’s culture from the start, developing its first wellbeing strategy and making it an organisation-wide priority, alongside her day job.
The Alliance Legacy Award: Brian Heyworth
A special award was presented to Brian Heyworth, outgoing Chair of MindForward Alliance, for outstanding service to workplace mental health. Brian has chaired the Alliance since 2019 and has spoken openly about his own experience of anxiety and depression, helping other senior leaders to do the same.
We will be sharing detailed case studies of the winning entries over the coming days.
Thank you
Our thanks go to everyone who entered, and to our judging panel for their time and care: our Chair, Poppy Jaman OBE, with Michael Cole-Fontayn, Kevin Crombie, Sarah Cunningham, Helen Oldfield, Priya Raval and Fran Silvestre. Thank you to WPA Health Insurance our awards partner, to Linklaters for hosting the evening, and to Davina Sowers for sharing her story and her music.
