Charlie Waller Trust strengthens senior team

The Charlie Waller Trust, one of the UK’s most respected mental health charities, has recruited Abigail Hirshman as the new Director for its workplace programme.

Charlie Waller’s workplace programme provides consultancy and training around mental health and wellbeing, as well as educational and practical resources, for both employers and employees.

Abigail joins the Trust from Acas, the independent national advisory body for employers and employees, where she was Head of Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing.

She has worked in the field of mental health and wellbeing for more than 25 years. With an MA in Psychotherapy, an MSc in Psychology, and extensive research experience in occupational psychology. She is an active member of several mental health at work advisory groups and, until recently, sat as the workplace expert for the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on mental wellbeing.

As well as having created its Tripartite Model for Mental Health at Work, Abigail’s work at Acas included leading on strategic wellbeing projects with executive boards, advising government on key policy issues and delivering thought leadership on systemic issues relating to mental health and wellbeing at work.

Abigail Hirshman

Abigail is a highly experienced trainer and consultant and has worked across the private, public and third sector. Her knowledge spans policy, practice and research, lending significant credibility to the work she undertakes in influencing and shaping employer policy and stakeholder strategy.

Clare Stafford, Chief Executive of the Charlie Waller Trust, said:

We are thrilled that Abigail is joining us. Our workplace programme is a key aspect of Charlie Waller’s overall activities and is going to become more important still as COVID-19 forces the world of work, and those within it, to adjust. It is hard to think of anyone better qualified than Abigail to drive this forward, and I am greatly looking forward to working with her.

Abigail Hirshman said:

It is essential that employers engage fully and professionally in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their people – all the more so as the impact of the pandemic dramatically changes the workplace and creates new pressures and challenges for those within it. Charlie Waller is an organisation with an impressive pedigree, and the evidence-based work delivered by its team of trainers can, and does, make a real and sustained difference both to employees and to the places where they work. I am really looking forward to developing the programme further, at a time when it is needed more than ever.