When Loss Walks Into the Office: Ruth Cooper-Dickson on Grief, Resilience, and Mental Wealth
Most workplace wellbeing programmes are built for struggle - for burnout, anxiety, stress. But what happens when an employee is grieving? Ruth Cooper-Dickson has spent the better part of a decade answering that question.
An accredited trauma-informed coach, positive psychology practitioner, and Mental Health First Aid instructor, Ruth founded CHAMPS in 2015 after navigating her own experience with anxiety, panic disorder, and burnout. What began as a wellbeing consultancy has evolved into a focused mission: helping individuals and organisations move beyond coping and into what she calls genuine thrivership.
Today, through her company Ruth Cooper-Dickson Limited, she works at the intersection of grief, resilience, and post-traumatic growth - a niche she sees as one of the most underserved in the corporate world. "Most organisations have a wellbeing policy," she says. "Very few know what to do when an employee's world falls apart."
We spoke with Ruth about what inspired her journey, the gap she is working to close, and what comes next.
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What inspired you to start?
Like many founders, my business was born from lived experience. After navigating my own challenges with anxiety, panic disorder, burnout and significant life adversity, I wanted to change the conversation around mental health in the workplace.This was back in 2015, and I became fascinated by what helps people not just survive difficult experiences but grow through them. I went on to complete an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology and became a Mental Health First Aid Instructor.I founded a wellbeing consultancy called CHAMPS, which evolved into Ruth Cooper-Dickson Limited in 2024. My purpose is clear: to help individuals and organisations move from simply coping to truly thriving.
What problem are you solving?
We've become much better at talking about mental health when people are struggling, but there's one experience that still leaves most workplaces silent: grief. Most organisations have a wellbeing policy; very few know what to do when an employee's world falls apart.Loss doesn't wait for a convenient moment. It walks into the office, joins the Teams call, and sits in the leadership meeting. Yet managers are rarely equipped to respond, and grieving employees are often left to navigate it alone, usually while still expected to perform.My role is to close that gap. Through coaching, speaking, training and consultancy, I help organisations build genuine grief capability, support people through adversity, and normalise these conversations so they happen earlier and more openly.
What's next for you?
The next chapter is about taking grief literacy into organisations at scale. I recently launched an organisational grief capability offering, and my focus over the next 18 months is to grow this work and help more employers better support people experiencing loss.Alongside this, I'm continuing to expand my leadership grief coaching and speaking work, while growing my media and broadcast platforms to bring conversations around grief, resilience and post-traumatic growth to wider audiences.I'm also developing new programmes that make this work more accessible beyond the corporate world. Ultimately, my mission remains simple: helping people turn pain into purpose and build their own Mental Wealth.
Are you a woman leader with a story to tell? We'd love to feature you. Get in touch at hi@foundedbywomen.org
