We’re happy to share this useful blog by GPs Dr Sigi Joseph and Dr Jane Catley, on why they were inspired to start workplace wellbeing workshops and what they offer.

We are two dedicated, passionate NHS GPs with a combined 40 years of clinical expertise and a real understanding of the needs of the population.

In a post -pandemic world with an NHS under pressure we see a huge need to reach the population prior to illness setting in. Daily in our NHS general practice work we are seeing a steep rise in presentations of preventable disease, there is a growing need for jargon-free, understandable, and essential health information.

The Doctor Explains

Our business, The Doctor Explains, has a vision to share friendly, clear, expert-led health and wellbeing information to the wider population. Since the launch of our company just nine months ago we have had the pleasure of delivering multiple successful workshops to employees.

Our clients have shown a real desire to support their staff by enabling and empowering good health. Our workshops are also useful in meeting some of requirements in the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework (a management and analysis framework to understand and measure how sustainably an organisation is operating).

Utilising Dr Jane Catley’s Fellowship of Lifestyle Medicine and Dr Sigi Joseph’s Masters in Clinical Education and 20 years of teaching experience, we deliver meaningful wellbeing education in multiple speciality areas including perimenopause and menopause, men’s health, mental health, stress and burnout and leadership capabilities.

Each of our interactive sessions covers the breadth and depth of a subject area with practical tips and advice on steps to improve health.

Health issues can hugely affect people on both a personal and professional level. We see this time and time again.

Perimenopause and menopause

For example, the perimenopause and menopause is a time when we see a lot of women leaving the workforce (1 in 10). It’s crucial to inform and support women through this natural time in our lifecycle.

Dr Joseph was the Primary Care lead during the development of Scotland’s Women’s Health Policy, and is currently a representative for the UK Government’s Taskforce for Menopause.  During our session we explore the symptoms of menopause, why we experience them, the impacts of symptoms, workplace issues, treatments (both holistic and medical) and lifestyle measures that can offset symptoms. Flexible working is one of the measures we talk about because it can help women better manage their health and workload.

Additionally, in response to HR needs, we have developed sessions on female menopause for male employers/employees, which includes increasing understanding of symptoms and signs, use of appropriate language, how to best support your colleague and impacts on the workplace.

Tackling inequalities

In daily practice we see the impacts of widened health inequalities leading to poorer health, therefore we are delighted to also be delivering corporately sponsored workshops to areas of deprivation. This is a step towards fulfilling our longer-term goal for the business.

Contact us

Our team is keen to tailor the experience specific to the needs of the workplace in order to achieve tangible changes towards better health.

You can find out more at our website thedoctorexplains.com or email us at hello@thedoctorexplains.com or find Dr Sigi Joseph on Twitter via @sigi_dr