ABCUL’S Young Professional Network hosts its YP Week

ABCUL’S Young Professional Network hosts its YP Week

This week ABCUL’s Young Professionals Network has participated in a week-long series of webinars, podcasts and social events as part of its summer event ‘YP Week’.

Over the course of five days, the YPN Committee hosted an event on each day of the week with expert speakers covering a range of topics such as Digital Marketing, Managing Stress and Anxiety in Work and Beyond, a session dedicated to developing yourself as a leader, Young Professionals Internationally with guest speakers from members of the World Council Young Professionals Program in the United States and closing the week was a session about ABCUL’S Vision 2025 with ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly.

Commenting on YP Week, ABCUL’S Head of Member Services and member of the YPN Committee, Rosanna Donovan said: “I’d like to thank all members of our Young Professionals Network for attending this week’s sessions.  It is unfortunate we’re unable to host a face-to-face event this summer, but I’m very proud of the YPN Committee and our Network for formulating an  action-packed agenda for YP Week, which across our seven events has welcomed  116 attendees from credit unions in Britain.”

Presenting to YPN Members this week in a Digital Marketing Webinar, Managing Director of  Zync Digital, Anthony Bennett said:  “We were delighted to be invited to present for the first day of ABCUL’s YPN Week. The session went really well, and it was great to hear about the fantastic things that credit unions are doing with digital marketing at the moment. The current situation has meant that CUs are having to adapt their ways of working, and digital marketing will definitely be a big part of that moving forwards. Thanks to the YPN team for having us – it was a genuine pleasure.”

Attendees of YP Week also joined an informal discussion on strategies for managing stress and anxiety. Mental health challenges are a  prominent issue amongst young people and Covid-19 Pandemic has amplified these issues. ABCUL invited therapists specialising in this issue to hare techniques how to manage stress and anxiety in the workplace, reflecting on the session Francesca Belmonte said:  “Stress and anxiety are natural reactions our body does for all kinds of reasons. Certain types of stress can actually be helpful in regards to our productivity and efficacy within the workplace.

“However if we allow our stress to control us as oppose to us controlling it, it can manifest into a sense of overwhelm or anxiety. It’s important to acknowledge if this is happening so it may be addressed because if left unchecked, these strong states can magnify over time, creating further problems. Taking care of our mental health is no longer a taboo subject and there are many ways stress and anxiety can be transformed into something more useful. It’s a pleasure to be working with ABCUL and a highlight to have had the wonderful opportunity to talk to the YPN network.”

Plans for a winter YPN event are due to be discussed in the near future. For more information or any questions on ABCUL’s Young Professionals Network, please contact members@abcul.org

Next month (July 22 – 24) , the World Young Credit Union Professionals program (WYCUP)  is hosting a virtual event that will connect young professionals from across the globe. The WYCUP platform is for emerging credit union professionals worldwide to connect, share and live the credit union values of cooperation and people helping people. More details about the event and how to register are available here.