We have become the first agency to bring EventWell’s wellbeing ‘Hubs’ to our events as a solution for customers looking to be more inclusive and accessible.
EventWell, the charitable social enterprise dedicated to educating, campaigning and supporting better health and wellbeing across the events industry, launched the 'Hub' concept in 2021. The Hub by EventWell is a quiet room and sensory space, designed to provide a gentle escape from the rich and often overwhelming environment of a conference or event.
Recognising a need to make events more inclusive and accessible, our Sustainability Manager, Dana Moore, said: “The data from mental health charities shows that up to 1 in 6 event attendees could be struggling with their mental health and we want to accommodate that. We wanted to extend the wellbeing solutions we have implemented in business travel to our meetings and events division, and what better way to support this than partnering with the award-winning mental health voice of the events industry.”
Unique in their offering, the Hubs feature dim lights, noise-cancelling headphones, books on breathwork, meditation, diffusers, and other tools to combat sensory overload as part of their concept of a ‘10-minute break’ - rather than taking people away from events. For those who do need to take longer, EventWell can stream the conference or key notes onto a TV in the room and provide headphones, allowing a neurodivergent audience the chance to remain connected to an event. Many of the hubs also come with a trained Mental Health First Aider
to safeguard users and provide critical support. The profits from the EventWell Hubs fund the training so hosts can continually develop their service.
We have a long-established partnership with mental health not for-profit organisation EventWell, as our Director of Venue Find and Events, Caroline Medcalf, is also a voluntary trustee for EventWell. Caroline commented: “Mental health and inclusion doesn’t need to stop at the door; we recognise our customers want to look after their people by creating a selfcare culture at their events. This partnership means we can expand our offering with wellbeing and accessibility in mind.”
Just like EventWell, we take a proactive approach to managing mental health. Now the infrastructure is in place, our people can offer this service to customers who are looking for options to support their delegates’ needs.
Helen Moon, Chief Executive at EventWell, said: “We wanted to be more than an organisation providing training, we wanted to create something that was preventative and actionable. We wanted to develop a service that’s bespoke to each event and puts real support in place. The hubs are transformational, with delegates needing just 10 minutes for the brain to be refreshed.”