In recent years, we have seen businesses increasingly prioritise the mental health of their workforce. While this is to be applauded, specific support around substance use remains vastly overlooked.

Research by the CIPD suggests that although half of employers have a disciplinary procedure for drug or alcohol-related incidents, only around a third provide information for employees on sources of support or guidelines for managers on how to deal with disclosure.

A timely conversation with my Washington DC-based pal ex-FBI and Microsoft global cyber expert and renowned speaker Edward P. Gibson prompted me to make a direct link between the highly unpredictable so-called hyperconnectivity promises generated by artificial intelligence generated systems and seasonal affective disorder.

This week marks world homelessness and world mental health day. These two issues are inextricably linked. People experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness suffer from incredible stress and have very often experienced significant trauma in their lives. As Chief Executive of Simon Community Scotland, our country’s largest provider of homelessness support services, I am very aware of this; in fact we see very few people accessing our services who do not also have significant and long term mental health problems.