Alastair Campbell heads up Championing The Health Of Retail event

Former political aide Alastair Campbell is to headline a virtual event being run by retailTRUST to champion the health and wellbeing of retail workers.

This will take place on 10th and 11th May and will also include Morrison’s Chief Executive David Potts, Asos’s CEO Nick Beighton and British Retail Consortium’s Chief Executive Helen Dickinson.

Registrations are now open for the free event which will also feature Seasalt’s CEO Paul Hayes, John Lewis Partnership’s People Director Jo Walmsley and Brewdog’s President and Chief Operating Officer David McDowell among its speakers.

A range of panel sessions over the two days will look at the role of retailers in creating wellbeing; focusing on areas such as coping with uncertainty, managing money worries and providing social purpose, with Campbell stressing why employers need to drive openness around mental health.

He comments: ‘Huge progress has been made in breaking down the stigma and taboo surrounding mental health and mental illness but there is still a long way to go.”

“My goal is to help bring about a world where we feel we can be as open about our mental health as we are about our physical health, because that is the route to better awareness and understanding and that in turn leads to policy makers taking it more seriously.”

“Meanwhile, businesses as employers have a massive role to play and I will encourage them to do so.”

Other speakers will include Very’s Culture and Communications Director Lauren Young, Pinterest’s Strategic Partnership Manager Hannah Ngakane and Barjis’s Founder and CEO Barjis Chohan.

Keynote speaker Potts says: “This has been an exceptionally challenging year for everyone in retail.”

“Health, wellbeing and especially mental health must continue to be at the very centre of the retail conversation as we make plans for the route out of Covid and prepare to come back stronger.”