Since 1973, World Hello Day has been an annual opportunity to bring people together in local events with global impact. Recently we got a challenge, however. The great entrepreneur for social action, Christian Altenius, invited us to also take part in the Hela Sverige säger HEJ! Swedish edition of the global action.
So rising to the challenge, this year we are building a local event in Sweden with an amazing local artist and therapist to enable an additional 10 people – strangers – (that’s the concept) to say hello to us.
Combining the insights and skills of Nina Sønderberg as psychotherapist with the equally great skills of yoga therapist (focusing on stress and trauma) Emma Pålsson, we aim to both greet 10 new people and be able to do our part in a global mission of connectedness.
Mental Resilience and Wellbeing in Policing: Insights from John Harrison
How the UK police force is transforming mental health support for its officers
Policing is a profession that demands not only physical strength but also immense mental resilience. Over the past two decades, the demands on police officers have changed tremendously and so has the conversation around mental health in policing.
To understand this shift, Nordic Wellbeing Academy spoke with Professor John Harrison, National Police Chief Medical Officer for England and Wales. His work has been pivotal in shifting the culture from one of silence and stigma to one of openness and support and how mental resilience is being prioritised in modern policing.
The Challenges: Stigma, Culture, and Evolving Demands
Historically, policing has been dominated by a “macho culture”, where emotional vulnerability is often seen as weakness. Officers relied on coping mechanisms like dark humor, alcohol, or simply bottling up their feelings. As John notes: “Police and fire services have quasi-militaristic structures with macho cultures that historically ignored emotional feelings.”
This culture created a significant stigma around mental health, leaving many officers feeling isolated. The problem was compounded by the fact that policing itself has evolved dramatically. Where officers once dealt primarily with traditional crimes, they now face complex issues like domestic abuse, sexual violence and online paedophilia – all of which carry a heavy psychological burden.
Another challenge is the lack of experience among newer officers. John points out that around 25% of officers today have less than five years of service, meaning they often lack the maturity and coping skills to handle the traumas they encounter.
Building Resilience: From Individual to Organisational Support
In the UK police force, a significant cultural shift has taken place over the past 15-20 years as the new challenges led to greater awareness of the need for mental health. “When I joined the police in 2014, after having worked as an occupational physician with the NHS for twenty years, I felt like I was stepping back in time. The ‘old school thinking’ was still very prevalent”, John shares.
One of the most impactful changes in policing has been the introduction of peer support networks and external therapist networks. These systems provide officers with timely access to mental health resources, ensuring they receive the help they need when they need it.
John explains, “Peer support networks allow officers to speak with colleagues who understand their experiences. This creates a sense of camaraderie and trust, which is essential for breaking down barriers to seeking help.”
Additionally, external networks of trauma therapists have been established to provide specialised care, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). These therapies are designed to help officers process trauma and build resilience.
While individual resilience is critical, John emphasises that organisational resilience is equally important. This means creating a work environment that supports mental wellbeing through policies, training, and leadership. He states, “We’re shifting from focusing solely on individual resilience to building organisational resilience. This involves training managers to recognise signs of stress in their teams and fostering a culture where wellbeing is prioritised.”
Events like Wellfest, an online wellbeing conference, have also played a crucial role in fostering open discussions about mental health. These platforms bring together officers from different branches of policing to share experiences and learn from one another.
Increasingly, data analytics play a crucial role, too. By tracking metrics like sickness absence, burnout rates, and presenteeism, the police force can identify trends and tailor their support programmes more effectively.
The Future of Mental Health in Policing
The journey toward better mental health in policing is ongoing, but the progress so far is promising. From peer support networks to data-driven wellbeing programs, the UK police force is taking significant steps to prioritise the mental resilience of its officers.
As John puts it: “We’re trying to embed the concept of wellbeing in our workforces, with leadership from everybody in policing from a wellbeing perspective.”The goal is to create a culture where mental health is not just discussed but actively supported – where officers feel empowered to seek help without fear of judgment. With continued effort, collaboration, and investment, the future of policing can be one where resilience and wellbeing are at the heart of the profession. For now, the message is simple: mental health matters, and in policing, it’s not just a personal issue – it’s an operational necessity.
Learn more about the MentaStress project NWA is involved in!
Can we deliver digital prevention of burnout? Webinar for The Society of Occupational Medicine
As part of Lars Münters work in the WHO Europe Strategic Partners Initiative for Data and Digital Health, he was invited by The Society of Occupational Medicine October 9th to present at a webinar.
Hosted by Professor Niel Greenberg, Chair of The SOM, Lars there presented the process and thinking behind the tool for prevention of burnout that was previously also presented and discussed in an earlier stage at the WHO Symposium for the Future Health Workforce in April 2025.
With an extra six months of development, it was a pleasure to share these insights again and to discuss with a very dedicated group of researchers and stakeholders for good working environments.
See the full presentation above – or read a summary of the presentation below
Future Health Workforce – from EU to WHO in Tallinn
Going from Aalborg and the EU Presidency to Tallinn and the WHO – Future Health Workforce is key to the discussion. NWA participated with Nina Sønderberg and Lars Münter, where Lars Münter was invited to the session to address different policy-level aspects crucial for building sustainable health workforces in a digital age.
This included:
Enablers of high quality, safe and inclusive digital health environments
Service design that enables integrated care delivery across heterogenous care environment
Roles and responsibilities in a future health workforce and pathways to achieving them
Applying ethics and accountability in AI-driven healthcare environments
Effective regulatory frameworks
Presenting alongside Kjersti GAUDEN, Department of Specialist Health Care Services, Ministry of Health Norway, Heidi Egede NOASEN, Greenlandic Health Service Greenland, and Deborah Cohen, Chief Operating Officer, Health Workforce Canada, Lars Münter presented on skills, burnout, AI, and trust – as four pillars for collaborative strategies.
Such a pleasure to revisit Tallinn for NWA – and to advance the discussion on these core topics.
Future EU Policy event in Cyprus November 6-8, 2025
In collaboration with the One Health One Road Alliance, Cambridge Medical Academy, European University Cyprus, European Health Futures Forum, and IE Open, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy is organising the Danish-Cypriot EU Policy Sessions – a series of health policy side sessions at the IMBMC 2025 in Nicosia, Cyprus – November 6-8.
The sessions will gather speakers and participants from a global network to discuss and develop new ideas. Meet:
Adam Skali – Board Member, Institute for Human Centered Health Innovation, ES
Anna Kudiyarova – Director of the Psychoanalytic Institute for Central Asia, KZ
Belinda Lin – Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park China
Bogi Eliasen – Executive Director, Movement Health Foundation, DK
Building Future Health Workforce at Together4Health – Danish EU Presidency conference
Collaborative creativity at its finest in Aalborg September 18th. NWA collaborated with EHFF to build a co-creative workshop with Natasha Azzopardi Muscat – Director of the Division of Country Health Polices and Systems WHO Europe, Charlotte Marchandise – Executive Director EUPHA, and Stella Goeschl – Young Action Group JA PreventNCD as the superpanelist powering the audience.
In 60 minutes, the audience got to find future strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that should be taken into account for a future strategy, and then our panelist used these to suggest four action items that they hoped the participants – and the Danish EU Presidency – would take up tomorrow to build a new pathway for change. These were voted on by the audience to create a shortlist of five action items for change.
Common Themes Across Speakers
Burnout & well-being: urgent and systemic.
Technology: potential but overhyped; must serve both patients and staff.
Data: better workforce data is essential.
Inclusion: young people, patients, and vulnerable groups must be part of decision-making.
Public health: prevention and community-level work relieve pressure on hospitals.
Top 5 Action Points for EU Presidency Action
Build KPIs for workforce well-being – measure and hold leaders accountable.
Stand up for people with science – evidence-based policies, not quick fixes.
Inclusion of young people – systematically in panels, education, and policy.
Stand up for communities – ensure public health and local engagement.
WHO Europe will discuss this further at conferences and events in 2025 and on. The themes will be a strong element of debate at European Public Health Conference 2025 in Helsinki (November), and JA PreventNCD will continue it’s work to tackle determinants, including at a conference in Denmark October 2025.
As part of the One Health One Road Alliance, NWA and EHFF will bring the issue into the Danish-Cypriot Policy Debates in Nicosia November 6-8 as the opportunity of bringing this issue from one EU Presidency to the next is vital. We hope to see many from Aalborg in Nicosia too.
Partnership impact report – New tool for Trust and Transformation
Working in partnerships is one of the most rewarding, most needed, and most difficult endavours humans can do. Building a good relational strategy is a first step, but figuring out if the strategy works can be tricky. Or it used to be! Two new report created by the NWA and a consortium of experts for the Danish Life Science Cluster gives partnership builders, managers, and transformation agents a new tools to navigate this difficult task.
The two reports follows a first report issued earlier this year about the impact of the Danish Lighthouse Life Science. The “Foundation of the Danish Lighthouse Life Science” report describes the architecture behind this collaborative PPP with 400+ members. And in “A New KPI Model for Collaboration and Change“, we introduce a change model with KPIs that can help guide new partnerships along the tricky art of building, expanding, and running a multistakeholder platform towards a common goal.
The key point above all; You can design collaborative platforms to also generate trust – and here’s a manual.
In a time where trust in institutions and future is eroding, this mechanism of using trust literacy to build new collaborative platforms with strong relational strategies is needed more than ever. We look forward to promote, test, and expand the model much more in coming months and years.
EFT for HR – ISRICM Project Webinar
As part of the ISRICM-EU project, NWA conducted a webinar September 10th to explore the use of EFT in HR and expand on the learning of the HR workshop at the ISEFT conference in Bucharest.
NWA and the participants explored the integration of emotion-focused therapy principles into human resource management practices, with participants sharing experiences and discussing applications in workplace settings.
The group explored how emotional intelligence and empathy could enhance HR practices, including creating safe spaces for emotional expression and addressing challenges during organizational transformations.
Discussions covered the role of AI in HR, employee well-being during difficult times, and the importance of maintaining positive workplace culture through transparent communication and support mechanisms.
Find a summary report about the webinar here – and stay tuned for future webinars!
Africa called – from Berlin. As always a great place to visit; this time to attend the Digital Health Africa 2025, organised by/at Charité.
We had the great pleasure of presenting two posters; the first – Women’s Occupational Burnout – on behalf of the EHFF European Health Futures Forum Working Group on Women’s Health, presenting a digital analysis platform to reduce burnout – inspired by WHO Regional Office for Europe SPI-DDH work on this issue.
The second – From Play to Prevention – was the creative spinoff from our recent workshop on AMR at DPH2025 in Madeira where bright minds built this new idea to build antiobiotic awareness, involve schools, and fight AMR across the continents.
Leading by Example: How a Copenhagen Firefighter is Shaping a More Mentally Resilient Force
As part of the MentaStress project, NWA visited Greater Copenhagen Fire Department in April 2025 and learned more about their history, transformational journey, and current landscape of psychosocial support. MentaStress aims to enhance mental health and stress management for first responders through augmented reality (AR) training. More recently, NWA Senior Communication Advisor, Anna Gallinat, had the chance to interview Christian Hagelund Vangsgaard, firefighter and crew commander in Copenhagen, who is driving the change for more mental resilience on the job.
In 2017, tragedy struck at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, when a terrorist attack killed 22 people and injured over 1,000. While the headlines focused on the victims and the perpetrator, a lesser-known aftermath unfolded quietly within the emergency services. A crew of firefighters called to the scene were denied entry due to misinformation and security protocols. Treated as an active shooter situation, the incident led police to hold back the fire crew – a decision that had deep psychological consequences.
“Not being allowed to do your job is one of the key factors for developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is what happened there,” explains Christian Hagelund Vangsgaard, Crew Commander for the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department.
Around 10 years ago, the Department started recognising that large-scale security incidents like terror attacks were no longer remote possibilities but real threats. Greater Copenhagen’s fire service launched a new wave of training programmes, which aimed not only at technical readiness but also at mental resilience.
The training initiative was spearheaded by Christian and his colleague Andreas Corell, who believed that modern emergency response demanded a new mindset. Firefighters were trained to handle high-stress, high-risk environments as well as how to process the psychological impact of those events. The goal: to prevent PTSD by addressing its root causes – lack of preparedness and the inability to act.
The biggest challenge wasn’t the technical component. It was changing a deeply ingrained culture. According to Christian: “The biggest part was not the technical preparation, like how to do a special kind of first aid. It was to change the mindset that these incidents are dangerous in a different way and that mental preparedness as well as resilience are big parts of it.”
In a traditionally stoic and physically demanding profession, change isn’t easy. The fire service, like many emergency organisations, has long been steeped in a culture that rewards toughness and discourages vulnerability.
“Culture is a difficult thing to change, but not impossible.”
Christian Hagelund Vangsgaard
To shift the mindset, Christian began with leadership – his own. After each emergency call, his team holds a debrief. These start with a discussion of technical actions, but in more significant situations, they also include mental and psychological evaluations. As crew commander, Christian leads by example: “I feel it is my responsibility to set an example, not just on the technical side of a call, but also on the mental aspects of the job.” He usually begins by sharing how a particular incident affected him emotionally, which encourages others to do the same.
“We all get affected by something at some point in different ways. And it’s okay to get emotionally affected, because we’re not made of stone. We are whole human beings, not machines.”
Today, the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department includes mental resilience as a key part of its operating model. “The more you talk about it, the more you normalize it,” says Christian. His leadership has helped foster a culture that embraces emotional awareness alongside operational excellence. The shift from silence to dialogue, from suppression to resilience, is making the department stronger, better prepared and more human.
