Failure is uncomfortable - especially when it’s our children experiencing it. But what if failure is one of the most powerful teachers we can give them?

In this episode of ConnectForHealth, host Scott Armstrong, Founder of mentl, and co-host Maissa Al Khafajy, Head of Government Affairs and Strategic Communications at Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa, explore The Power of Failure and what setbacks can teach our kids about resilience, confidence, and emotional intelligence.

Joining the conversation are two powerful voices:

• Sebastian Bates, Founder and CEO of The Warrior Academy and The Bates Foundation, whose work in character education is shaped by personal experience - from childhood bullying to a life-changing accident - and who has mentored over 50,000 families across seven countries.
• Lee Ryan, Manager of Sports Excellence and Athlete Development for Cognita Schools Middle East through the Enrich ME programme, bringing a coach’s perspective on how challenge, loss, and failure in sport can shape stronger, more resilient young people.

Together, they unpack:

• Why shielding children from failure can do more harm than good
• How setbacks build confidence, emotional intelligence, and self-belief
• The role parents, coaches, and schools play in reframing failure
• How sport and physical challenge help kids process disappointment
• What failure teaches children that success never can

This is a must for parents, educators, coaches, and anyone involved in shaping young people’s lives.

Chapter List

00:00 – Welcome & episode context
Introduction to Connect for Health and why resilience and failure matter for children.

03:06 – What is resilience really?
Sebastian Bates and Lee Ryan define resilience as coping, recovery, and repetition.

05:24 – The parental instinct to shield children
Why protecting children from pain can unintentionally weaken resilience.

09:02 – Reframing failure
Failure as unmet expectations, learning loops, and the foundation of success.

12:37 – Lived experience and bullying
Sebastian shares his childhood bullying story and how it shaped his work today.

17:47 – How bullying actually works
Body language, empathy, confidence signaling, and practical tools for children.

22:54 – Cyberbullying and digital resilience
Why online bullying is different and how parents can reduce harm and build self-worth.

30:43 – Working parents and quality time
Non-negotiable connection, presence over perfection, and daily rituals that matter.

39:39 – Supporting children through failure
Practical advice for academic pressure, exclusion, and confidence after setbacks.

55:00 – Final reflections and key takeaways
Courage, character, and why failure is a teacher, not a threat.

In this episode of ConnectForHealth, Scott Armstrong and Maissa Al Khafajy are joined by chartered accountant and money coach Carol Glynn of Conscious Finance Coaching to explore one of the most universal sources of stress: money.

Drawing on years of coaching experience and audience insights, Carol explains why financial pressure affects every part of our lives - our sense of safety, our relationships, our wellbeing and how we make daily choices.

The discussion looks at why people across all income levels experience money anxiety, including those in senior, high-earning roles. Carol breaks down how mindset, self-esteem and inherited beliefs shape our relationship with money, and why earning more rarely solves the underlying problem.

They examine how men and women often view money differently, why couples can struggle to understand each other’s financial behaviour, and how arguments about money usually stem from emotional meaning rather than numbers.

Carol shares practical tools for getting clarity, understanding spending patterns, building a cash-flow plan, and aligning money with your values. The conversation also explores how financial stress affects families and how children absorb money behaviours from the adults around them.

Later in the episode, Carol explains the foundations of financial wellness, from budgeting and needs versus wants, to saving with purpose, building a cash cushion, managing debt and approaching investing with confidence and understanding.

This session is part of the ConnectForHealth series from Cigna Healthcare Middle East and Africa, supported by mentl.

Chapter List:

00:00:10 – Welcome to Connect for Health

00:02:03 – Why money impacts every part of our lives

00:03:55 – Mindset, self-esteem and stress around money

00:04:46 – Two families, same income story, different outcomes

00:08:27 – How men and women think differently about money

00:11:10 – What money means to you: audience perspectives

00:17:01 – Values, clarity and purpose: the core money mindset shift

00:20:24 – Are we living our values or the ‘hamster wheel’?

00:23:34 – What causes financial stress: clarity, planning and debt

00:43:37 – Building financial skills: budgeting, investing and long-term goals

In this special edition of ConnectForHealth, we take you inside the Cigna International Health Study (CIHS) 2025 - UAE Edition - the most comprehensive look at the state of well-being, vitality, and workplace health across the Emirates.

For the fourth consecutive year, mentl has authored the UAE white paper, tracking the nation’s wellbeing story as it rises year after year - even as global well-being softens. And this year’s findings are nothing short of remarkable.

Joining host Scott Armstrong, founder of mentl, and co-host Maissa Al Khafajy, Head of Government Affairs and Strategic Communications at Cigna Healthcare MEA, are two powerhouse voices:

• Leah Cotterill, CEO, Cigna Healthcare Middle East and Africa (excl. KSA)
• Hana Agil, HR Director, MEA, International Organizations, Strategy, International Health, Cigna Healthcare)

Together they unpack:

• Why the UAE is now a global leader in well-being and vitality
• What’s driving unprecedented gains in mental health, optimism, and quality of life
• The paradox of progress: rising vitality alongside persistent stress, loneliness, and financial pressure
• Why 67% of employees are actively job-hunting yet 80% say they’d work harder for their employer
• What Gen Z is telling us about unmanageable stress and loneliness
• How company culture - and manager behaviour - directly shapes well-being, retention and productivity
• Why healthcare benefits have overtaken flexible working as the number one most valued employee benefit
• How AI and digital health are transforming expectations
• The urgent call for employers: one size no longer fits all

This is essential listening for business leaders, HR professionals, policymakers, and anyone shaping the future of work in the region.

Chapter List

01:10 - Why CIHS matters
02:00 - UAE well-being and vitality outperforming global trends
03:20 - What makes the UAE different
05:10 - Stress, financial pressure and loneliness emerging as key tension points
07:00 - The UAE’s unique demographic resilience
09:00 - Government investment in well-being and mental health
10:10 - Mental health becomes the UAE’s number one priority
12:00 - Why ambition, mobility and personal development drive wellbeing
13:20 - The surprising rise of job-hunting (67%)
14:40 - Gen Z stress, unmanageable stress and loneliness
17:05 - Hybrid work, disconnection and the loss of workplace community
19:00 - The 53% manager-understanding problem
20:40 - Healthcare benefits become the number one preferred benefit
21:50 - Stress levels, family priorities and emotional load
24:00 - Social media, perfectionism and digital stressors
26:00 - Loneliness as a health risk (as harmful as 15 cigarettes a day)
28:30 - Why employers must take loneliness seriously
30:15 - Productivity, ROI and the business case for well-being
31:30 - Menopause, perimenopause and the cost of ignoring women’s health
34:00 - Manager training, empathy and psychological safety
36:00 - Gender wellbeing gaps and workplace realities
40:00 - The tension between ambition, parental guilt and family priorities
42:10 - The economic cost of disengagement in the UAE
43:40 - Why well-being is a business fundamental
45:00 - Leadership vulnerability and building trust
47:30 - Digital health, AI, telehealth and EAP adoption
53:00 - Trust as a barrier to digital and mental health support
54:00 - The employer–employee trust equation
56:00 - Final advice: the number one thing employers can do tomorrow
58:10 - Closing remarks and where to find the CIHS 2025 report