Headtorch Wellbeing Hour

Listen to the first Wellbeing Hour of the year with Enoch Adeyemi, Finance Consultant at Aldermore Bank, Co-Founder at Black Professionals UK & Black Scottish Awards. Enoch is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and a consultant specialising in the financial services industry. A passionate advocate for positive change, he is the founder of several organisation...

Listen to Wellbeing Hour with Dr Sarah Jackson, Chief Medical Officer at EDF UK, for a conversation on leadership, collaboration, and wellbeing in high-performance workplaces. Dr Sarah Jackson is a Consultant in Occupational Medicine with a distinguished background in workplace health, leadership, and resilience. After joining the British Army while studying medicine at the University of Newcastle...

Tara Ferguson is our March guest on the Headtorch ‘Wellbeing Hour’ podcast. With over 20 years in HR, coaching, and employee wellbeing, Tara Ferguson has worked with leading organisations like Unilever, PepsiCo, and Exscientia. After a cancer diagnosis in 2024, subsequent intensive treatments, and the opportunity to take redundancy from Exscientia, Tara left in December 2024 to set up Onward With...

Join us for a special Wellbeing Hour panel event this February, where industry experts will explore the vital link between career development and mental health in the workplace. Meet the Panelists Our panel features leaders from career-focused industries, each with unique insights on maintaining mental well-being while navigating professional growth. Don’t miss this engaging discussion—your career...

Listen to Cath Pendleton as the first guest speaker of 2025 on the ‘Wellbeing Hour’ podcast. Cath Pendleton, known as “The Merthyr Mermaid,” is an accomplished open water and ice swimmer from Wales. She holds a Guinness World Record for the Most Southerly Ice Swim (female), achieved by becoming the first person to swim an ice mile inside the Antarctic Polar circle in February 2020. Her remarkable...

Join us for Wellbeing Hour with Prudence Pitter - Global Head of HR at Amazon Web Services (Auto/MFG) Pr30udence Pitter has over 25 years of extensive Human Resource leadership experience across various industries, Prudence currently serves as the Global Head of HR for Amazon Web Services' in the Automotive & Manufacturing division. A passionate advocate for authentic leadership, Prudence will...

On October’s Wellbeing Hour, we have a special panel event. We’ll be hearing from three members of Gen Z discussing workplace mental health and wellbeing. We’ll be discussing: What are the priorities for Gen Z in the workplace? What do future leaders think now? What is their vision for workplace wellbeing in the future? Join us and learn from a younger generation, see the world the way that they s...

Listen to Headtorch's Wellbeing Hour with Andrew J. Rodgers - Leadership Consultant and Principal at Odgers Berndtson. “Be Courageous, Discover Your Identity” Andrew is a leadership consultant and an executive and team coach. Prior to a 19 year career at HSBC, he was a musician, a youth worker and almost became a monk. At HSBC he fulfilled numerous roles including start-ups, country and regional h...

The Wellbeing Hour with Adriènne Kelbie - Leadership Coach, Former Head of Office for Nuclear Regulation & First Patron of Women in Nuclear UK "Your Comfort Zone Is Not Your Friend" Adrienne’s mantra ‘Your Comfort Zone Is Not Your Friend’ drives her constantly to try new things and to help others overcome their barriers so they can be their biggest, best, boldest selves. Now an executive coach...

Ollie Folayan MBE – Co-founder of AFBE-UK, Head of Process at Costain Group, Visiting Professor – University of Dundee Ollie Folayan is an accomplished engineer and academic, currently serving as a visiting professor at the University of Dundee and as Head of Process at civil engineering company Costain Group. With expertise in Chemical Process Engineering and a PhD in Fuels and Combustion, Ollie...

Chris Abbey is the Senior Vice President HSE at Altrad UK, Ireland & Nordics. After leaving the armed forces, Chris got involved in Health & Safety literally, by accident. A life changing event, involving fire and an explosion changed his perspective about risk, behaviour and people forever. Now working at senior levels and internationally, his experience amplifies his clear mandate - to p...

Listen to the Wellbeing Hour Panel with guests Julie Nerney , Serial Entreprenuer, Transformational Leader & Non Executive Director UK Supreme Court Prof Denis Fischbacher-Smith , Research Chair in Risk & Resilience, University of Glasgow Karen Anne Duffy , HSE & Sustainability Manager, Volvo Construction Equipment , Chair Global Mental Health Community, Volvo Group

Tamana Ayazi is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, journalist, and human rights advocate. She was born and raised in Balkh, Afghanistan. Tamana Ayazi passionately uses storytelling as a powerful tool for advocating freedom of thought, equality and human rights. In 2018, Tamana became a National Geographic Explorer, and in 2021, she began assisting Amnesty International in documenting its one-year-long rep...

Matthew is a Client Relationship Director at Baillie Gifford. He’s also Chair of their Mental Health Group. Hear from Matthew about creating an open workplace culture, the polar opposite to a closed one where you " bottle things up" .  The lessons from this apply to every organisation. Baillie Gifford values the mental health and wellbeing of employees, investing in Learning & Development...

Sue started life as a dancer – narrowly missing out on being part of the infamous Pans People, (as featured on ‘Top of the Pops’ in the 1970s). Running alongside the world of dance, she took up competing and volunteering in the world of Motorsport. After many years Sue started to deliver training and project consultancy for The Motorsport Association (MSA), assisting them with a very successful re...

Chas’s career was in finance, working with companies including Cadbury Schweppes, Debenhams, The Burton Group and Diageo. His last major role was as CFO for Superdry Plc., where he saw the business grow from £25m to £314m in 5 years. He chaired the project team to list the business on the London Stock Exchange, winning 2010 IPO of the Year in the process and achieving FTSE250 status. When profits...

Kate Goodger is one of the most experienced performance psychologists in Olympic sport in the UK having worked with Team GB athletes and medallists at seven Olympic Games. She has achieved a strong reputation as a high-performance coach and facilitator with executives, leaders and teams in European and global businesses. She has a PhD in Athlete Burnout and is a published researcher in the field....

Rory O’Connor PhD FRSE FAcSS is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and a Past President of the International Academy of Suicide Research. Rory leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab at Glasgow, one of the leading suicide/self-harm research groups internationally. He has published extensively...

Julie was a serial entrepreneur, starting, running and selling 14 business in the UK and overseas. She then had a successful interim career as a business transformation expert, spanning private, public and not for profit sectors. These ranged from complex change programmes through to whole organization turnarounds and high profile projects, including a leadership role in the delivery of the transp...

Helen is a gardener, writer and podcaster. She’s just published her first book Grow, Cook, Inspire; Gardening and cooking for a healthier mind and planet. The book encourages everyone to grow their own and eat seasonally, exploring the benefits for our mental and physical wellbeing, and our environment. Helen grew up on a farm on the west coast of Scotland and has experienced first hand the devast...

Hannah is the Founder and Co-Director of Headlines Network, a media consultant and journalist with more than two decades of experience working in the international news industry. She is the former CEO of the International News Safety Institute and the Ethical Journalism Network, as well as a sought-after speaker, facilitator, trainer and writer. Hannah co-authored the first study into moral injury...

Since graduating from the University of Glasgow in 2000 with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons), Rupa has been passionate about equity, diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing within the Scottish legal profession. After qualifying in 2003, Rupa specialised in employment law and practised exclusively as a solicitor until I became Director of People & Development at MacRoberts LLP in 2017. She is particu...

Rob qualified as a vet from University College Dublin in 2001 and worked as a small animal vet in the UK from graduation until July 2018. He undertook a wide variety of roles including a small animal internship at Glasgow Vet School, a surgery residency in a private referral practice and a clinical director role at Minster Vets in York. Much of his clinical career was spent as an orthopaedic surge...

Tim is a new media entrepreneur and author. He has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, one of the leading publishers for Australian millennials that was acquired by the ASX-listed oOh!media in 2016. Tim’s first book, Cult Status: How to Build a Business People Adore , was named the Best Entrepreneurship Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards. His second...

Lutfur Ali Senior Policy Advisor Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Transformation Lutfur joined the CIPD in October 2021 and is a Non-Executive Director for the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). With a career spanning over three decades in the public, private and third sector, Lutfur has championed the delivery of social justice, equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and sustainability in organ...