We had a great turnout of senior sponsors at the Chairman’s Breakfast on 10 June. The key note speaker was Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of NHS England, and other senior stakeholders from the outside world included Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind and Chair of NHS Mental Health Task Force, Sir Simon Wesseley, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Lord Gus O’Donnell, Chair of Frontier Economics and Lord Layard from Action for Happiness.

The meeting was introduced and brought to a close by Linklaters’ Chairman and Senior Partner, Robert Elliott, and chaired by our Vice-Chair, Nigel Jones. And there were contributions from all of the other members of our management committee, including a (justifiably) upbeat summary by Beth Robotham of the achievements we have made in the last year and our ambitious plans for the future.

The broad topic was what employers in both the public and private sectors can do to create working environments which help keep their employees in good mental and physical health, with the focus on sharing practical tips. The meeting explored how the workforce can engage with mental health without fear of stigma and how to recognise mental health as a boardroom issue – considered by all contributors to be key to maximising productivity and business performance.

Audience participation was excellent, including from Chris Saul, Senior Partner of another of our law firm members, Slaughter and May, and follow-up at and since the meeting has been enthusiastic and highly supportive. The management committee is actively following up on all leads, and will be working out priorities for action over the coming weeks.

This success would not have been achieved without a great deal of hard work and dedication from a number of people, many of whose contributions were not visible on the day. Our thanks to all concerned.