1 / 43

Owning Your Mental Health: Promoting Inclusivity and Acceptance in the Intellectual Property Professions

Learn how IP Inclusive promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion in the UK's intellectual property professions, with a focus on mental health and wellbeing. Discover resources, support networks, and best practices to improve mental health in the workplace.

rausch
Download Presentation

Owning Your Mental Health: Promoting Inclusivity and Acceptance in the Intellectual Property Professions

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Owning your mental health Andrea Brewster (Lead Executive Officer, IP Inclusive) 6 September 2019

  2. Inclusivity, acceptance and mental wellbeing

  3. IP Inclusive: The mission statement To promote and improve equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the UK’s intellectual property professions.

  4. IP Inclusive: What we do • Training and awareness-raising • Events • Resources • Support • “Communities”: IP & ME, IP Ability, IP Futures, IP Out, Women in IP • Best practice EDI Charter

  5. IP Inclusive: What we do • Outreach • “Careers in Ideas”

  6. IP Inclusive: For all IP professionals We welcome IP professionals of all types, at all levels of seniority, from all kinds of working environments and in all parts of the UK. …patent attorneys; trade mark attorneys; barristers and solicitors working in IP; staff within IP registering offices; patent and IP managers; IP administrators, secretaries and paralegals; IP licensing executives; information scientists, searchers, translators and any other professionals (including HR and management professionals) working in IP or with other IP professionals; those who provide representative, support or advisory services to IP professionals; and regulators of IP professionals.

  7. Diversity and inclusion Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.

  8. Diversity and inclusion “Inclusivity” in the workplace is about people being able to bring their whole selves to work.

  9. Inclusivity and mental health 1. A mental health problem might be something that people feel they need to keep hidden. 2. The effort of keeping some aspect of yourself hidden is not good for your mental health.

  10. 2019 survey results • 155 CITMA & CIPA paralegals responded = 22.6% of membership category • 80.1% from private practice (51.6% from “large” private practice (>80 staff)) • Good range of career levels

  11. 2019 survey results • “In the last 12 months, which of the following have adversely affected your work?” • High stress levels: 61.2% • Anxiety: 53.2% • Depression: 23.0% • 5.8% had been troubled by suicidal thoughts • That’s about 1 in 17 people

  12. 2019 survey results • Stress levels in the last month: • Felt stressed “very often” or “occasionally”: 68.9% • Stress level “severe” or “extreme”: 20.5% • Felt unable to cope “very often” or “occasionally”: 42.3%

  13. 2019 survey results • On the whole, paralegal stress and anxiety levels were higher than for student and attorney respondents

  14. 2019 survey results • Main causes of stress & anxiety at work: • Deadlines: 46.8% • Ineffective/inappropriate management: 39.6% • Insufficient support: 35.3% • Insufficient control over workload: 32.4%

  15. Being judgemental

  16. 2019 survey results • Negative feelings at, or due to, work: • Fear of making mistakes: 61.2% • Feeling you’re not up to the job: 41.7% • Considering leaving your job: 35.3% • Feeling you don’t fit in: 19.4% • Needing to hide aspects of yourself or your life from colleagues: 19.4% • None: only 13.0%

  17. The solution • Be less judgemental and more accepting: • of other people • of yourself

  18. Accepting other people • Stop. Think. • What’s going on below the Waterline of Visibility??

  19. Lunch at Liverpool Street

  20. Self-compassion www.self-compassion.org

  21. What’s in your Happiness Jar?

  22. My Happiness Jar

  23. Coping strategies • Look after your physical health: • Diet • Sleep • Exercise • Not too much alcohol • Take breaks • Connect with other people

  24. 2019 survey results • Coping strategies: • Family or friends: 66.7% • Sympathetic colleagues: 44.2% • GP: 29.7% • Counsellor or therapist: 15.2%

  25. LawCare www.lawcare.org.uk

  26. Other sources of help • Samaritans 116 123 • www.samaritans.org • Mind • www.mind.org.uk • Mental Health Foundation • www.mentalhealth.org.uk • NHS mental health services • www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/mental-health-services/

  27. Jonathan’s Voice www.jonathansvoice.org.uk (“Need help”)

  28. Jonathan’s Voice www.jonathansvoice.org.uk (blog)

  29. 2019 survey results • Side effects of stress: • Sleep problems: 64.9% • Near-mistakes: 43.1% • Actual mistakes: 33.6% • Severe fatigue: 37.1% • Considering leaving current job: 44%

  30. What’s IP Inclusive doing to help? • Events on mental health and related issues, including webinars and regional events • www.ipinclusive.org.uk/events • Plus webinar recordings • IP Inclusive/Jonathan’s Voice Mental Health and Wellbeing web page • www.ipinclusive.org.uk/mental-health-and-wellbeing

  31. IP Inclusive website www.ipinclusive.org.uk/mental-health-and-wellbeing/

  32. What’s IP Inclusive doing to help? • Promoting mental health “first aid” training • Helping to organise courses • Training on things that affect inclusivity • Especially “unconscious bias” • Support networks (“communities”)

  33. What’s in other people’s Happiness Jars?

  34. 2019 survey results • Job satisfaction levels (when all going well): • 84.4% good or excellent • Only 1.5% “not so good” or “poor” • Current mood: • 22.2% uncomfortable, unhappy or very unhappy

  35. Diversity and inclusion Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. Acceptance is being able to dance like there’s no one watching.

  36. Thank you for listening!

  37. Biography: Andrea Brewster OBE Andrea is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney. Until her retirement in 2015 she was a partner in the Somerset firm Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder. A former President of CIPA, Andrea is a member of the Institute’s governing Council and serves on several of its committees, including the Education Committee, the Joint CIPA & CITMA Business Practice Committee and the IP Paralegals’ Committee (which she helped to establish). Andrea is the founder and Lead Executive Officer of IP Inclusive, an initiative that promotes diversity and inclusivity throughout the IP professions. In her spare time, she writes a light-hearted blog about her work: thenotsosecretdiary.weebly.com

  38. How to find out more • www.ipinclusive.org.uk • www.careersinideas.org.uk • contactipinclusive@gmail.com • @IPInclusive • @bameipinclusive • @ip_out • @WomeninIPI • @CareersInIdeas

  39. How to find out more • LinkedIn discussion groups: • “IP Inclusive” (linkedin.com/groups/8473869) • “IP Inclusive: IP Futures” (linkedin.com/groups/8792265) • “IP Inclusive: IP & ME” (linkedin.com/groups/12049564) • “IP Out Network” (linkedin.com/groups/8488373) • “IP Inclusive : Women in IP” (linkedin.com/groups/8557958)

More Related