Catriona Stewart: Will wellbeing be a gimmick or a policy that changes lives? скачать в хорошем качестве

Catriona Stewart: Will wellbeing be a gimmick or a policy that changes lives?

ON so-called Blue Monday, the day when, supposedly, our resolutions have crumbled, we are post-Christmas skint, and the weather is dire, I gathered with a group of staff from PricewaterhouseCoopers to join them on an early-morning walk designed to add a dose of wellbeing to the start of the working week. Moving quite literally from darkness into light, we set off at 7am in order to be high up in Glasgow Necropolis for sunrise. Fresh air, exercise and companionship are certainly all ingredients for improved physical and mental wellbeing – but was this merely a gimmick from one of the big four accountancy firms? The staff I spoke to certainly didn't think so. The feeling of being meaningfully cared for is enough to boost wellbeing in itself, particularly by a body that has a huge influence on your life. Mental health and general wellbeing have become popular topics over the past few years, championed by everyone from grassroots groups to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Rightly so. Stigma around mental health has led to untold damage, while a failure to prioritise wellbeing leads to poor health. Should wellbeing be a priority for government? It makes absolute sense for it to be so, as was stressed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon this week at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance conference in Edinburgh. "Scotland is redefining what it means to be a successful nation by focusing on the broader wellbeing of the population as well as the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country," Ms Sturgeon said. "The goal and objective of all economic policy should be collective wellbeing." Her words couldn't have been more prescient. On Wednesday, the day of the conference, an independent economic report was released showing that Scotland had slipped to th