Planning a Lunch and Learn can be easier than you thought! Follow our step-by-step guide below.
1. Plan your programme.
How many, when and where, how long for?
We recommend one a month for 45 minutes each. Pick a consistent day and time to make it easier to remember.
2. Pick your topic to discuss and if you are able to, get an expert to present it.
Here is a list of 30 topics we have put together for you to choose from:
- Mental Health Awareness
- Mental Health symptoms and early warning sign
- What is mental Health, what are the risks at work and how the company is planning to reduce the risks.
- How to break the job-stress junk food cycle.
- Workplace culture & mental health – trust, honesty, openness, fairness, civility and respect
- Struggling with mental health? Here’s how to approach your manager.
- Breaking the stigma on mental health and how the company plans to eliminate it, What stigma is and how you plan to eliminate it.
- Company mental health policy and procedures put in to place.
- The difference between pressure stress and anxiety
- Top tips for staying well at Work
- Improving your sleep
- Panic Attacks
- Dealing with stress in the workplace (with practice sessions)
- Company internal support to employees struggling with mental health. (e.g., flex hours)
- Why meditation, mindfulness, visualisation and deep relaxation is important for your mental health
- Promoting positive mental health at work
- Mental and physical health are related
- Early identification and treatment can be important to productivity and recovery
- Suicide prevention
- Happy employees
- Work/Life balance
- Time management tips
- Common impacts of mental health problems
- To disclose or not to disclose. Pro’s and Con’s.
- A deep relaxation session/visualisation or meditation
- A mindfulness session
- How to prevent burnout and fatigue
- How to support a colleague in distress. (Include role playing)
- Community resources, companies, therapies, organisations that can help or who employees can contact.
3. Book the expert.
Once you’ve picked your topic, arrange and book your expert speaker and provide a brief of what you’d like to discuss and the message you’d like to convey.
4. Choose a location.
Somewhere more relaxed or informal like the cafeteria, lunchroom or conference room.
5. Advertise your campaign and schedule for the month, quarter or year in advance through:
– email marketing
– posters
– managers and supervisors talking about it in meetings
– during safety or toolbox talks
– Individual email invitations
6. Interactive sessions.
Ensure your sessions are interactive and encouraging staff to talk, bond and respond or engage. Leave room for questions or allow those who are shy to drop their questions on a note and have someone read all the questions out aloud.
7. Provide lunch.
Consider providing employees a healthy lunch or sandwiches when joining the talks.
8. Give take-home information.
Either email employees with additional information about the day’s specific talk or give them a pack of notes or a booklet.
E.g.
– Mental Health Help Resources
– Exercise ideas
– Coping strategies
– A copy of your company’s mental health policy and procedures
– Information on how to help a colleague who may be struggling.
9. Promote your next session.
Provide a little insight into what will be talked about in the next session and the date.
10. Follow-up with an email covering answers to questions discussed during that day’s session, plus additional information, handouts, as well as dates and topic for the next events.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU RUN A LUNCH N LEARN:
1. Our consultants can help you design and deliver your Lunch & Learn sessions.
2. We can deliver a 1-hour Mental Health Awareness session for you (or any other mental health topic of your choosing)
3. We can be the expert presenter in most of the chosen mental health topics.
4. Our therapists and presenters can deliver an hour Mindfulness Introduction Session or an 8-week Mindfulness in Business programme.
5. We can offer a 6-week Stress Management Programme
6. Two week ‘Improve Your Sleep Programme’.
7. Our team can deliver 30min or 1-hour Deep relaxation, Meditation or Visualisation sessions either daily or once or twice a week. This will improve productivity, focus and concentration, confidence and more.
8. A Resource sheet can be supplied to you listing important websites and phone numbers of mental health charities, support centres and volunteers.
9. We can design and provide you with handouts or additional information that can be given to employees after talks.
After all of this, if you still find it daunting, you need extra help or having a topic to discuss and not sure how to deliver it, we offer Lunch and Learn Sessions. Find out more HERE.
