Aberdeen focus | interview
- but also that all my offshore medical and training
certificates are in date, including the ‘dunker’ or HUET,
as it is known; the Helicopter Underwater Escape
Trainer!
Proactively, I provide training and workshops in Stress
Awareness and Stress Management, Work/Life balance,
the HSE Management Standards and Managing
Change. These are offered both onshore and offshore.
With the downturn in the oil
industry are you finding more clients
requiring your services?
Yes. There has been an increasing requirement, not just
before people suffer from stress with the training side of
Managing Change, but also after, with the psychotherapy.
Erin Park from Iqarus explaines how highly Carolyn and
her work is regarded, both by her colleagues and clients.
“Carolyn is quite unique in what she does. Her role is
very dynamic but nothing phases her about mobilising in
under an hour. Dealing with trauma is a huge part of the
job and many of our clients would not go to anyone else.”
In the last 5 years more than 13 million
people have taken time off work due
to stress. There is still a huge stigma to
saying that you may be suffering from
stress in the workplace, always with
the fear of job security. At what point
do you get involved with employees
suffering from stress in the workplace?
Stress is nothing new; one of the first slides I use
in my training sessions is a quote from Epictetus,
a Greek philosopher from the 1st century. In 2004,
as one of the directors of the International Stress
Management Association (UK), I was instrumental
in introducing the HSE Management Standards into
Scotland. National Stress Awareness Day was already
an annual date before that, has continued to grow
and is, incidentally, still owned by the International
Stress Management Association; it is always the first
Wednesday in November and I have been involved
in every year since. This is only part of a growing
educational intent to de-stigmatise mental ill health.
BUSINESS WOMEN SCOTLAND 17
We at Iqarus are involved in pre-emptive training
for employers and employees in understanding all
aspects of stress, particularly in the workplace.
We also offer support to companies in managing
sickness absence and recognising the importance of
work/life balance.
The aim is to instill in the individual, and therefore
the organisation, the necessary psychological,
practical and safety checks to keep them on course
into the future. This will result in increased individual
performance, greater corporate efficiency and reduced
absenteeism, thus allowing for overall individual and
corporate wellbeing.
Who has been most influential on
your career and what is the best piece
of advice that you have received?
Many people have been influential throughout my
career, including my husband and family. On the
professional side, Professor Stephen Palmer, who
trained me in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and
continues to be supportive in my career; whilst Dr
Bruce Lawrie has been my close mentor for the past
many years and continues to be.
Regarding the best piece of advice, I think the