Lockdown is ending. The UK is reopening. And at Women in PR, we are launching a wealth of new initiatives to help us, as an industry and as women, look forward and rebuild in a sustainable way – taking with us the positives we have found during these last 18 months, but also being mindful of the challenges we have endured along the way.

The Committee has been hard at work over the last few months. Using your vital input into our survey, we have created a tailored year-long programme that delivers events, workshops, skills and job opportunities – ensuring that we are all fully equipped to grow and succeed over the coming months.

The programme includes:

• A new mental health initiative and partnership with Head Office – kicking off with an in-depth Resilience Workshop next week
• A series of skills sharpening events which focus on areas such as Negotiation, Leading High-Performance Teams and The Art of Public Speaking
• A new jobs board, which is live on our website from today – providing our members with access to senior comms opportunities and matchmaking of consultants/freelancers
• A Returning to the Office toolkit to help agencies and employers share best practice
• A joint campaign with the PRCA, NABS and Women in PR examining Sexual Harassment in our sector and connecting our members and women in our industry with the help and support they need
• Our 8th year of the Women in PR Mentoring programme, in partnership with PR Week, is now accepting applications for the 2021/22 programme so please get involved
• An in-depth campaign around the growing issue of ageism in our sector later in the year
• And last but not least – our annual Summer Drinks Party this July, which will be IRL (Covid-permitting) and in an utterly fabulous location.

Thank you to you all for filling in our survey earlier this year. Shockingly, the results showed women working in the communications industry are most concerned about burnout (83%), the lack of promotional opportunities (68%) and return to work. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the results showed women in the comms industry are disproportionately more concerned about these issues than women working in other industries.

We’ve taken what you shared and have launched a year-long programme to support you as you come out of a year of the pandemic.

First up in the Skill Sharpening series is building resilience. Responding to your concerns about mental health and burnout, we’ve partnered with head office to provide bespoke resilience workshops for women in communications roles this year.

The first will be held on Thursday 27 May from 2 pm to 4.30 pm and costs £8. We have 25 spaces, first come first served.

Sign up now Women in PR – Building Resilience Tickets, Thu 27 May 2021 at 14:00 | Eventbrite