The aim of Gareth’s role is to ensure that as an employer, the City Council provides the best possible support for its staff to improve their general wellbeing, reduce sickness absence, enable earlier interventions to prevent ill health and reduce costs for the council.
The story so far
Gareth Spooner is employed as staff wellbeing coordinator at Portsmouth City Council in a post that was initially funded jointly by HR and Public Health and has since become part of the HR establishment.
The aim of Gareth’s role is to ensure that as an employer, the City Council provides the best possible support for its staff to improve their general wellbeing, reduce sickness absence, enable earlier interventions to prevent ill health and reduce costs for the council; the role also includes supporting independent care sector employers in the city to consider and implement staff wellbeing strategies in order to support better recruitment and retention of front line care staff.
Once the coronavirus pandemic arrived, Gareth redeveloped the council’s wellbeing offer to provide as much wellbeing information as possible to employees across all directorates of the council, including to in-house residential care providers.
The Portsmouth wellbeing offer
During the main phase of the pandemic, Gareth developed regular wellbeing updates by email (see end example of an update) for all council staff, which in turn linked to a dedicated coronavirus wellbeing intranet page. The topics covered in the weekly updates included:
- 10 top tips for looking after our mental health and emotional wellbeing
- physical activity ideas and guidance
- mindfulness
- financial wellbeing
- ways to keep children occupied and learning
- keeping in touch
- getting good sleep
- employee assistance programme
- young people's mental health
- 5 ways to wellbeing
- focus on stress for stress awareness month
- information about Solent Mind helpline
- signposting to the Help for Heroes self-care guide
- support for pregnant women
- DSE and back care advice
- domestic abuse helplines and information
- wellbeing service support
- focus on mental health for mental health awareness week
- managing anxiety and worry
- couch to 5k
- virtual yoga classes available to staff and a musculoskeletal and back care special
Online training and webinars
With face to face training cancelled, Gareth talked with Solent Mind about them delivering online training for council managers on managing mental health in the workplace; a number of sessions were commissioned from Solent Mind, with all sessions receiving very positive feedback and which highlighted the important role managers have in supporting and signposting staff to the appropriate services to aid their wellbeing.
Gareth also set up some one hour “bite size webinar” for all council staff on taking control of mental health and wellbeing; the session explored what Mental Health and Wellbeing is and why it's important in our daily lives. It explored ways to take control of personal Mental Health and Wellbeing, whilst having the chance to share what works too.
Wellbeing champions
The council already had an established network of wellbeing champions throughout the council; this is a voluntary role undertaken by staff members who have an interest in health and wellbeing and co-ordinated and supported by Gareth who provides them with a monthly update for cascading to their team and colleagues. The thinking is that these champions know how best to promote wellbeing information to colleagues. The champions also act as a ‘sign poster’ within their teams to help colleagues access appropriate information and support for their wellbeing; some champions also run activities such as virtual mindfulness groups and prior to Covid-19, they arranged lunchtime walks and staff weigh-in sessions
Wellbeing champions in residential care settings
Portsmouth Council still have some in-house residential care provision so in an effort to recognise the pressures on adult social care in particular, members of the Learning and Development team and wider Adult services directorate were redeployed to act as wellbeing champions within these residential settings. They were physically based in the care settings, and provided care staff members with wellbeing related-information including the employee wellbeing pack (see embedded word document at end) and copies of the wellbeing updates as not all staff members had email access. They also helped to set up mindfulness groups and offered a listening ear for any staff concerns, as well as signposting to any relevant support services. This information was also provided to managers of sheltered housing units in the city.
Gareth also works with independent sector care providers across the city. Initially he provided wellbeing resources and information for inclusion on the council's provider portal, and was able to secure a commitment from the Director of Adult Services to open up the council’s Employee Assistance programme to independent providers at no cost to them until the end of October 2020. Two providers have taken up this offer, with another two showing interest. Gareth was recently invited to join a virtual care home briefing and updated the group on the support and resources available for the wellbeing of all staff within their organisations, included highlighting the resources on the provider portal, local and national support lines such as Solent Mind, Samaritans, and resources for responding to bereavement and trauma. Gareth also used this opportunity to raise awareness of the wellbeing champion role to see if more providers could interest staff in volunteering for this role, as well as an offer of training opportunities from the council to the sector, including the Mind ‘managing mental health’ session for managers, and the bite size webinar
Next steps
Given the greater impact of coronavirus on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people and as part of the councils commitment to Black Lives Matter, a new staff network is being set up for BAME staff in the council. The network will support equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and allow people to share their views and experiences and work together to create a more inclusive workplace for all
Gareth has also been working closely with the council’s Occupational Health provider to ensure managers can easily refer employees to their service if they have concerns about their ability to work due to the coronavirus. Occupational Health also helped inform the council’s current risk assessments being developed by Public Health within the council. A number of new resources for managers in the council have also developed to support managers in supporting the wellbeing of employees, including an updated return to work form, leading during bereavement, and a complex grief guide
Contact
Example of a staff wellbeing update by email
Subject line: Get the latest on coronavirus
Staff update - wellbeing special
As we continue to get used to different working patterns or makeshift home-offices it's important we keep in contact with our residents and clients and look after our colleagues.
This wellbeing staff update focuses on supporting you and looking after your physical and mental wellbeing, whilst helping us to work as effectively as possible.
Physical activity
Look after your physical wellbeing: Your physical health has a big impact on how you are feeling emotionally and mentally. At times like these, it can be easy to fall into unhealthy patterns of behaviour which in turn can make you feel worse. Try to exercise inside where possible and if you are able to go outside, consider walking, running or gardening (keeping the recommended two metres from others outside of your household as outlined in the social distancing guidance).
If you are staying at home, remember you can find free online workouts and guides such as:
- 10 minute work outs from Public Health England
- Exercise videos to try at home on the NHS Fitness Studio.
- Sport England’s #stayinworkout
- PE with Joe Wicks the body coach
- Yoga with Adrienne a library of free yoga videos
You could also set up virtual activities within your teams to help keep you motivated; you just need to agree on a time and the activity and complete together virtually through apps such as Zoom.
Mindfulness
Take time to relax and focus on the present: This can help with difficult emotions, worries about the future, and can improve wellbeing. Relaxation techniques can also help some people to deal with feelings of anxiety, if you would like more information on relaxation techniques such as mindfulness access the NHS’ mindfulness page.
Free mindfulness platforms:
You can arrange a time that is convenient for your team to practice mindfulness each day by arranging virtual sessions, all you would need to do is press play from your personal device and facilitate that time for your team.
Don't forget there are lots of free resources to support your mental wellbeing available at Every Mind Matters and also the NHS has a list of free mental health apps.
Financial wellbeing
Mental Health UK and Money Advice support anyone who is struggling with their money as well as the impact of those financial worries affecting their mental health.
If yours or a family member's income has reduced during the COVID-19 outbreak, the first step you can take is to complete a budget form. This will allow you to put down all of your incomings and outgoings to understand better how the reduction in income will affect you and by filling in a budget form, you will understand how you can save money.
The website also provides insight onto their five-step plan to manage your money and mental health better during the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Identify your current financial situation
- Address any financial emergencies
- Maximise your income
- Create an emergency budget
- Deal with your debts
Five ways to keep your children occupied (and learning!) at home
Whether it's for a day, a week or a month, keeping your child off school and at home can be an unsettling proposition.
Though the extra time together as a family can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, you might be worried about keeping them up to date with their school work or occupying their attention for the entire day - especially when you're stuck inside!
We have put together five ways you can keep your kids - and their brains - busy at home. It includes:
- Keeping them engaged in real-time learning
- Keeping them active
- Keeping them full
- Keeping things short and simple
- Keeping them coming back for more
Find out more about ways to keep your children occupied [LINK TO INTRANET PAGE]
Staff wellbeing pack [LINK TO PACK ON INTRANET]