Understanding Anxiety in the Workplace
The WAM Programme at AHEAD is running a free training webinar aimed at current WAM employers and potential WAM employers.
When: Wednesday September 18th 2024 from 11.30am – 1.00pm.
What: An online session which seeks to provide awareness and understanding about Anxiety in the workplace. The webinar will run in partnership with Anxiety Ireland.
More about WAM: The WAM programme is the transition to employment initiative of AHEAD. It offers graduates with disabilities the benefit of a 6-month minimum fully paid and mentored work placement with high profile employers. WAM was established in 2005 and, to date, have placed over 690 graduates with both private and public sector employers.
Event information
An estimated 4% of the global population currently experience an anxiety disorder (WHO, 2023)
According to the recent WAM programme statistics 2023 publication, to date, the most common disability of placed WAM graduates is now a mental health condition (20%). In the first ten years of The WAM Programme, on average, 1 in every 10 graduates presented with multiple, or co-occurring, disabilities. However, in recent years, this figure has increased. In the last five years alone, 2018 – 2023, over 1 in 3 graduates disclosed multiple disabilities.
While we don't have a breakdown of these co-occurring disabilities, anecdotally the WAM team frequently come across Anxiety as a co-occurring disability within the graduate needs assessment process.
Anxiety Ireland provides information, encouragement and expert psychotherapy to those suffering with anxiety in Ireland. We provide CBT, psychotherapy, couples counselling and adolescent counselling and enable you to book directly with our network of accredited therapists to manage, transform and overcome any anxiety issue. Our founder Michael Ledden MIACP, MIAHIP, brought together the specialist team at Anxiety Ireland because all over Ireland there is a silent and devastating anxiety epidemic impacting people everyday. We want an Ireland where in this epidemic, people no longer must suffer in silence, and instead all those who struggle with anxiety are empowered with the skills and knowledge to change.
The aim of this webinar is to provide an understanding of anxiety and discuss how anxiety can impact on individuals on a day to day basis with an emphasis on the potential impact on work and what supports are available to employees and employers.
This webinar is hosted by Alice Hartigan, WAM Project Officer in AHEAD, with a featured presentation from Michael Ledden of Anxiety Ireland.
The webinar will include a question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation.
About our speakers
Alice Hartigan
Alice has a Bachelors degree in Makeup & Character Design from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), where she honed her creative skills and developed a keen eye for detail. With a deep passion for advocacy, politics, and social justice issues, Alice pursued further education, earning a postgraduate certificate in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion from the University of Limerick.
Haven worked in the mental health sector for a number of years before coming to AHEAD, Alice is driven by a commitment to fostering inclusivity and understanding, dedicated to promoting Diversity, Inclusion and Mental Health awareness and cultivating a positive workplace culture.
Michael Ledden
After gaining profound insights into his own over-active mind and anxiety over ten years ago during his own therapy journey, Michael was driven to establish Anxiety Ireland in 2018 after qualifying as a psychotherapist. His motivation stemmed from a deep concern for what he perceived as a hidden epidemic: clients grappling with a myriad of anxiety-related challenges in their everyday existence. Michael is a fully accredited psychotherapist (IACP, IAHIP, ICP Accredited, B.A., MPhil., Msc., Clinical Diploma in Integrative Counseling and Psychotherapy) with an interest in CBT, Mindfulness, Shamanism as well as Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Existential and Transpersonal Psychology. Michael offers his services to clients with varying needs, accommodating those who seek short-term, intensive interventions to confront their anxiety challenges directly, as well as individuals who are committed to embarking on a deep and transformative long-term healing journey.
