This was our fourth annual virtual wellbeing festival and first year of opening the festival up nationally to all UK police forces and other emergency service colleagues, and we are so pleased to have had 8500 ticket requests across the 64 sessions over the two weeks.
Some of the topics included financial wellbeing, managing overwhelm, personal stories of courage and overcoming trauma, nutrition, muscular skeletal health, managing stress, understanding menopause and menstrual symptoms, kindness, mindfulness, learning about hedgehogs, and so much more. Our grand finale was a laughter yoga session which was really well attended and a great way to end the two weeks.
Our most popular sessions were Perry McCarthy (AKA ‘the Stig’), Dr Emma Treby who spoke about stress and the menopause, Ken from our team sharing his wisdom on nutrition, Heather Agan De Visser talking about managing overwhelm, Ricky Nuttall a firefighter who was deployed to Grenfell Tower, and understanding pensions.
We have received so many emails from staff across the UK asking how to access the recordings of the sessions due to shift work or demand at the time and the good news is that all the sessions are available below for you to watch at your leisure, or as a team as part of a training day. There really is something for everyone.
Please see below some of the feedback we have received:
“If this is the face of D&C it’s no surprise that people always seem to want to transfer, brilliant idea and even better that it’s been opened up to other forces. Such a great range of speakers, sessions not to long. Just great!”
“All of the speakers were amazing and have inspired me to try and make the most of any opportunities I have to help others.”
“Please keep doing what you're doing, because you are making a difference to us.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to get involved in such a fantastic event! Its been great being able to dial in to such interesting teams chats and events and have taken something from everyone attended!”
“Just grateful that people put the time in to put events like this together. It is important that we all support each other, given the particularly hard time we are having at the moment. Thank you”
“I really enjoyed this event and not only learnt things to help me but also that will help my daughter.”
Session recordings
Watch and share the recordings on Vimeo by clicking the links below or download a timetable with links and embed codes.
- Introduction with ACC Thorne
- Perry McCarthy - Top Gear (Stig)
- Police Mutual - Hints and tips on how to budget and how to improve your budgeting skills
- FinWELL - Cost of living workshop
- Ken Lightfoot – Nutrition for life
- Sam & Miranda - Breath workshop
- Ed Rowland - Colitis Cop
- Rob Hosking - Former police officer and co-founder of Rise of Happiness
- Pete's Dragons - 5 steps to suicide awareness
- Pete's Dragons - Blame, shame, anger and guilt in bereavement
- Hannah from Love Grace
- Bhavna Raithatha - Being LGBTQ+ what your colleagues wish they knew about their sexuality
- Chris Preece - Obsession with a low body fat consumed my life
- Daz Stephens - Wellbeing/nutrition shift work
- Jon Toulson - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 1)
- Jon Toulson - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 2)
- Jon Toulson - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 3)
- Jon Toulson - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 4)
- Julia Zorab - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 5)
- Julia Zorab - Managing my wellbeing through personal development (workshop 6)
- Police Mutual - Managing debt and credit score
- Heather Agan de Visser - Managing overwhelm
- Paul Roe (Cambridgeshire Police) - Founder of Blue Paw
- Rehan live cooking demo
- Lou Dutch - Muscular Skeletal Health
- Jaime and Greig - 52 Lives
- Vashti Pearce - Journey with alcohol and health
- Amanda Peet - Trauma what to do if you can't put it into words
- Elle Mace - Body Dysmorphia
- Police Mutual Protection, Wills and Inheritance Tax Planning
- Prickles Paws
- ACO Poole and C/Supt Lisa Hogan - Women's health personal reflections, national updates and sharing good practice
- Dartmoor Zoo
- PC David Flavin - REBT what it is and how to apply it
- Police Mutual - Understanding your Occupational Pension Scheme (officers)
- Police Mutual - Understanding your Occupational Pension Scheme (staff)
- Garry Botteril - OK9 and Service Dogs UK, and Dogs Trust Team
- Ricky Nuttal - Firefighter - Grenfell
- Steve Jones (South Wales) - His experience of Testicular Cancer
- Breast Cancer talk with Heidi Loughlin
- Linda Magistris - The Good Grief Trust
- Cathy Wassell - Neurodiversity
- Marianne Shillingford - Creative Director at Dulux
- Status Code 14 (SC14)
- Faith Dickey - Highliner
- Emma Treby - Managing stress focus on menopause
- Ken Lightfoot - Nutrition for life
- Kate Shepherd Cohen - Menstrual Cycle Support
- Dr Katie Armstrong - Menopause
- Supt Alex Doughty – The impact of alopecia
- Hannah Bevan - Joyful nature journaling: A creative workshop
- Claire Turner - Huunuu
- Mark Ormrod MBE - In conversation and Q&A
- Jay Unwin - Beyond burnout
- Natasha Hill - An Introduction to mindfulness
- Police Mutual - An Introduction to private healthcare
- Julian Shambrook - Fishing
WellFest 2024
We are already reaching out to speakers in preparation for WellFest 2024, which will be held from 7 to 18 October 2024. If you know anyone you think would be a good speaker, or have a personal story you would be willing to share please send an email to the Wellbeing Team.
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