An article on mental health in the workplace has recently been posted on our sister site, Social Work Focus. For me this is an important subject that needs much closer attention. There are clear, well-established links between stress and mental health, so the workplace can be significant for mental helath. Equally, people with mental health problems will not leave their difficulties at the factory gate or office door. If we are to take workplace well-being seriously, then mental health - or, perhaps more appropriately, mental well-being - needs to be a key part of our thinking.

I was pleased to see loss and grief in the workplace come up as an item on one of the discussion forums (and not only because my book on the subject got a plug there!). I have long believed that loss and grief issues are a key part of well-being. Very often people do not recognise the significance of grief when they see it and, even when it is recognised, it is often not handled very well - no doubt because of the anxieties and insecurities involved. So, I believe that there is a strong case for paying more attention to how grief affects people's well-being. I especially believe that there is  a case for taking seriously the concerns it raises in the workplace, as no workplace - not a single one - will be free from the effects of grief. It is not a case of whether loss issues will arise, but rather when.

Today sees not only the launch of the 'sister' site, Social Work Focus (www.socialworkfocus.com), but also the completion of our first month online. It has been pleasing to get such a lot of positive feedback about the site in such a short period of time. If you are finding the site to be of benefit, then please do spread the word by telling anyone who might be interested about what is on offer here for free - and, of course, the more people who use the site, the more of a resource (as a community) it becomes for everyone. If you have any suggestions for how to improve or develop the site (or you want to report any glitches), please use the Suggestions Box facility on the Member Menu.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Gresford mining disaster. In 1934 266 miners were killed at the north Wales pit after an underground explosion and the collapse of part of the mine. A two-year inquiry resulted in the owners being fined for failing to take appropriate safeguards. The owners were heavily criticised by many people for putting profit before people.  The disaster led to a Royal Commission on pit safety which, in turn, led to a significant tightening up of the law.

Of course, a great deal has changed in 75 years, but there are still very real concerns that there are too many employing organisations that put profit before people and do not realise that they are likely to be more successful in their endeavours if they take seriously people's needs - for safety in particular and for well-being more broadly.

After the first ten days of Well-being Zone's existence things are starting to settle down nicely. We have started to get some discussions going in the Forums and it is to be hoped that these will be the first of many as people get into the swing of making them lively places for exploring well-being issues. Please do get involved where you can. At this early stage of the community's development you have an excellent opportunity to be a pioneer and influence its direction.

We are also steadily building up a nice databank of relevant articles plus reviews and a few training exercises. We are also beginning to see people taking advantage of the free Directory entries in the Marketplace section, and we will no doubt see more of this as word fo the site gets round.

The Well-being Wiki now has a few entries too and this is a good start, as members can now build on this by adding their own entries on any topics not yet covered and add to any existing ones. As this grows it will be an excellent resource for everyone.

So, we have the foundations of an superb resource and community for a wide variety of people - anyone, in fact, who has an interest in one or more aspects of well-being. Please help to spread the word. Thank you.

And finally for now, a few people have asked me why we have chosen well-being as a topic to focus on and what exactly do we mean by well-being anyway. I have directed them to the menu at the top of the home page where there is an item entitled 'Why well-being?'. There can be found the rationale for the site and an explanation of our understanding of what well-being is all about and why it is important. So, if you hadn't noticed that menu item before, why not click on it and have a look at what it says. Better still, why not print it out and keep it for reference?

So this is it. Today (September 1st 2009) is our official launch day. All the investment of time, effort and money that have gone into Well-being Zone culminates in today's launch. Well-being Zone is now 'open for business'. It is to be hoped that there will be enough 'pioneers' out there who will be able and willing to get the discussions going on the Forum pages, to enter their service details in one or more directories, contribute to the articles, reviews and wiki entries and so on - enough to get things moving so that others will then see the benefit of being a member of a community like this. So, welcome aboard and please do play your part in developing what has the potential to be an excellent resource for people who want our world to be better than it is now, people who have hope for a greater degree of well-being for all.

Welcome to the Neil Thompson on workplace well-being blog. On a regular basis I will be airing my thoughts on the importance of staff well-being as an important set of issues in its own right and also an important contribution to well-being more broadly. I will welcome responses to my comments so that the blog can be a dialogue rather than just a monologue.