The IGF Conversation: ‘Learning and Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Sport’
The Invictus Games Foundation (IGF) is pleased to announce the next iteration of its ‘Conversation’ series as a webinar on Wednesday, 2nd June 2021 between 1400-1545 British Summer Time. Along with a number of other events, it will occur during the ‘Games Week’ when the Invictus Games The Hague would have taken place in 2021.
This webinar is entitled ‘Learning and Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Sport’.
This event will be moderated by BBC presenter, and former Invictus competitor, JJ Chalmers, and includes speakers from the Participating Nations, as well as Consuella Moore, Professor Neil Greenberg, Professor Em Wilkinson-Brice from NHS England and NHS Improvement, and Air Vice Marshall Rich Withnall.
The impact of the Invictus Games Foundation’s activities are relevant beyond the Invictus community, and this Conversation will explore how lessons learned in sports recovery have a bearing on wider society, including for the healthcare workers in the frontline of the pandemic.
The IGF is very grateful to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for enabling this webinar and to the continuing invaluable support of Ascot Rehab, the Fisher House Foundation and ISPS Handa.
If you are able to join us for this event, sign up here: https://igfconversation.eventbrite.co.uk
The webinar will be conducted in three parts:
1. It will first focus on a discussion between the Invictus Games teams and their representatives, competitors and their friends and family on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role that sport has played in their respective experiences. The aim will be both to share best practice as well as building a sense of common purpose and identity in the Invictus community.
2. Next, Professor Neil Greenberg will join us in considering some of the key psychiatric themes which have emerged on coping with adversity and also then on building back better as we emerge from the pandemic.
3. Finally, there will be a discussion and closing panel session, considering how the Invictus Games Foundation has been able to support the National Health Service (NHS) and its
workforce in England in addressing some of the difficult moral and psychological experiences it has faced during the pandemic. This support has been built on a series of podcasts which
have considered key issues such as Reconnecting with the Family following a difficult deployment; preparing for a second deployment (or COVID-19 surge); the importance of teams
and networks; and the power of sport in aiding recovery and rehabilitation. We are delighted that Professor Em Wilkinson-Brice, Deputy Chief People Officer for NHS England and NHS Improvements will be the joining us for this section, and joined in the closing panel by Mel Waters, CEO Help for Heroes, and Rich Withnall QHS OStJ (Warrior Care 21st Century Conference).
