Organisers of the first Liverpool ‘Wellness In The City’ day say there will be subsequent events after hundreds of people attended. Tony McDonough reports

More than 300 people attended the first Wellness In The City event in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter with future days set to come.

Held at The Spine in Paddington Village, Wellness In The City was organised by Clare Ellis. Her partners included gut health practitioner Margaret Bell and well-being specialist Claire Morton.

It attracted more than 25 businesses, a full house for a lunchtime panel discussion, and more than 300 people across the day. It was sponsored by BIPC Liverpool.

Clare Ellis said: “This initiative, among other things, is evidence that the mental and physical health of employees in the workplace is moving up the list of priorities for many companies and organisations.”

Celebrity artist Gemma Longworth from Channel 4 show Find It, Fix It, Flog It ran a paint yourself positive workshop. It was one of many available on the day alongside masterclasses run by wellbeing advocate and breathing educator Joel Jelen from Sniff Sigh Yawn.

The panel event was headlined by Cesar Gamio, a Peruvian global wellness expert. It was chaired by LBN editor Tony McDonough. Other panel members were Alison Lobb, managing partner at Morecrofts, psychotherapist and wellbeing author Kim Rutherford, plus the award-winning Lee Chambers.

Clare added: “It’s about having a wellbeing culture to help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and organisations can thrive.

“Good health and wellbeing can be a core enabler of employee engagement and organisational performance. We had great support for our inaugural event especially from the Business and IP Centre Liverpool, sponsoring the full day of activities.

“We teamed up with The Good Small Business Awards and Dallas Consulting as collaborative partners with the ubiquitous Garth Dallas introducing the event.”

Garth said: “It’s clear the COVID pandemic has affected the state of workplace health and wellbeing across the UK. We believe business leaders, employees and freelancers can help create a better world of work and improve their own wellbeing. 

And Cesar Gamio added: “My hope is that companies will seek to meet international standards of workplace wellbeing to drive business performance, retain and attract talent and win additional business.”