Meet our founder
Iris Sita McKee
Iris McKee is a highly qualified and talented wellbeing professional. She has a master’s degree in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health (King’s College London), along with bachelor degrees in Mental Health Nursing (University of Surrey) and Economics and Psychology (University of Ghana). During her studies, Iris McKee undertook an exploratory qualitative study researching community psychiatric nurses’ experiences of stress and burnout and the impact of these on mental wellbeing, staff recruitment and retention.
Iris has many years of experience as a mental health nurse. This has included spells as a Community Psychiatric Nurse, as a Ward Manager and as a Primary Care Mental Health Practitioner, all at a Mental Health NHS Trust. Most recently she has been serving as Matron – International Recruitment Lead at the same organisation. Her most recent experiences have helped her refine and finely tune her leadership and management skills, and she has experience of running events based on her planning and coordination of trust-wide nursing assessment centres. Prior to her time working as a nurse, Iris McKee held numerous roles in care and support work, working with vulnerable adults to help them with their daily activities.
Iris McKee has a breadth of experience that is very transferable to bring to You’re Valued, in addition to an in-depth understanding of employee wellbeing. This combined with her versatility and enthusiasm for making a difference in people’s lives serves her extremely well as she leads and manages this new entity.
Iris McKee is a highly qualified and talented wellbeing professional. She has a master’s degree in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health (King’s College London), along with bachelor degrees in Mental Health Nursing (University of Surrey) and Economics and Psychology (University of Ghana). During her studies, Iris undertook an exploratory qualitative study researching community psychiatric nurses’ experiences of stress and burnout and the impact of these on mental wellbeing, staff recruitment and retention.
Iris has many years of experience as a mental health nurse. This has included spells as a Community Psychiatric Nurse, as a Ward Manager and as a Primary Care Mental Health Practitioner, all at a Mental Health NHS Trust. Most recently she has served as Matron – International Recruitment Lead at the same organisation. Her most recent experiences have helped her refine and finely tune her leadership and management skills, and she has experience of running events based on her planning and coordination of trust-wide nursing assessment centres. Prior to her time working as a nurse, Iris held numerous roles in care and support work, working with vulnerable adults to help them with their daily activities.
Iris has a breadth of experience that is very transferable to bring to You’re Valued, in addition to an in-depth understanding of employee wellbeing. This combined with her versatility and enthusiasm for making a difference in people’s lives serves her extremely well as she leads and manages this new entity.
“The content of each session was very inspiring and motivating, I felt valued.”
– Tope F, Senior Improvement Advisor, NHS Trust
“The retreat was a much needed break for myself to slow down and focus on myself. It highlighted some important points about looking after yourself while at work, around work and during home life. We rarely take a break to evaluate our workplace wellbeing and this retreat made me realise how important it is to look after myself. I learnt a lot and felt refreshed and reinvigorated after the retreat. I would highly recommend my colleagues and other companies to attend a You’re Valued retreat.”
– Sasha M, Website & Design Services
Why did we start?
Iris McKee has first-hand experience and observation of burnout at work, both in herself and in others. This led to undertaking research into ways in which employers can support employees’ mental wellbeing by ensuring they feel valued. This increases productivity and lowers absenteeism as well as turnover of staff.
Specifically, recent research shows that employee burnout is responsible for up to half (20-50%) of annual workforce turnover. The costs of replacing employees are very high – much more so than addressing burnout in the workforce and helping people to feel valued. Investing in employee engagement through wellbeing efforts is evidenced to be an important antidote to burnout.
Given the considerable benefits of addressing burnout at work, Iris McKee could see a clear and compelling opportunity to build a business in helping employers to address this increasingly important issue.
Iris McKee has first-hand experience and observation of burnout at work, both in herself and in others. This led to undertaking research into ways in which employers can support employees’ mental wellbeing by ensuring they feel valued. This increases productivity and lowers absenteeism as well as turnover of staff.
Specifically, recent research shows that employee burnout is responsible for up to half (20-50%) of annual workforce turnover. The costs of replacing employees are very high – much more so than addressing burnout in the workforce and helping people to feel valued. Investing in employee engagement through wellbeing efforts is evidenced to be an important antidote to burnout.
Given the considerable benefits of addressing burnout at work, Iris could see a clear and compelling opportunity to build a business in helping employers to address this increasingly important issue.
What we are doing…
Employees need to feel valued. It is ever-more critical that organisations take proactive steps to address employee mental wellness to avoid burnout. Failing to address mental wellness among staff ultimately leads to lower productivity, absenteeism and very costly employee turnover.
Highly-qualified and skilled practitioners in mental wellbeing we have devised specific packages that are targeted on improving employee mental wellness through facilitating learning for staff in how to build resilience. This lowers burnout and reduces the risk of issues associated with it.
We help you to make mental wellness a priority, offering cost-effective and bespoke programmes to suit the specific needs of your team. Events can be as short or as long as you need. We even take the pain out of organising the programme too by planning and coordinating the logistics.
The cost-benefit analysis for improving employee mental wellness is well-evidenced and clear. Why not get in touch today to find out more, or to organise your own bespoke employee mental wellness package.
Employees need to feel valued. It is ever-more critical that organisations take proactive steps to address employee mental wellness to avoid burnout. Failing to address mental wellness among staff ultimately leads to lower productivity, absenteeism and very costly employee turnover.
Highly-qualified and skilled practitioners in mental wellbeing we have devised specific packages that are targeted on improving employee mental wellness through facilitating learning for staff in how to build resilience. This lowers burnout and reduces the risk of issues associated with it.
We help you to make mental wellness a priority, offering cost-effective and bespoke programmes to suit the specific needs of your team. Events can be as short or as long as you need. We even take the pain out of organising the programme too by planning and coordinating the logistics.
The cost-benefit analysis for improving employee mental wellness is well-evidenced and clear. Why not get in touch today to find out more, or to organise your own bespoke employee mental wellness package.
Your employees are more likely to return from the retreat more engaged and more inclined to exert discretional effort. More engaged employees provide better service to customers. That means increased customer satisfaction and retention, ultimately.
When staff are more engaged they are more productive. There is a lot of research evidence supporting this direct relationship between employee engagement and productivity.
Employees that have higher wellbeing and do not feel burnt out are less likely to call in sick. This means fewer last minute operational challenges for you to deal with.
Employees that know that they are valued and that their employer cares about their mental wellbeing are more likely to feel loyalty to the company, and less likely to look for other employment opportunities elsewhere.
What all of this means for you is lower costs. A mental wellness retreat pays for itself, many times over.
