Wellbeing Day is an initiative for the whole University community. It started out as a result of personal experience, as one of its founders explains.
Hi, I’m Catherine Pope and I’m leading the ‘wellbeing taskforce’ for the University. Wellbeing Day 2014 is just one of the activities that a small, dedicated team of volunteers has undertaken towards our goal of improving the mental health and wellbeing of staff and students at this University.
We held our first wellbeing day last year and we have held a series of training events since then directed to improving mental health and wellbeing. We are delighted to be holding our second, bigger Wellbeing Day at Garden Court on 4th November 2014.
I initiated the wellbeing taskforce in early 2013 because of a growing realisation that a number of close friends and colleagues were encountering significant mental ill-health and distress associated with, or exacerbated by working here. I also saw students who were struggling with mental health challenges. My personal history of depression, and the experiences of family and friends living with bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression, and the suicide of a colleague and friend in the past decade convinced me that it was time to do something. The wellbeing taskforce is that something. And I am fortunate to have been joined by a fantastic and enthusiastic team of volunteers from across the University who have supported and helped this project including Adam Wheeler (Provost) and Gill Rider (Chair of Council) who supported this from the start, and the Diversity team and members of HR, Staff and Students from SUSU as well as a network of colleagues who have shared their expertise and time to help us meet our goal of improving mental health and wellbeing.
Wellbeing Day is a showcase of resources and services directed towards different aspects of wellbeing. We try to make it as broad as possible - looking at physical health, nutrition, through to mindfulness and psychological interventions. We also want to make sure staff and students know about the wide range of services and policies of the University that are there to support health and wellbeing for example the role of Health and Safety Services, our Stress Policy and support for managers responsibilities for looking after their staff.
We hope there is something for everyone.
Wellbeing Day 2014 is just one day. But this project needs to last longer than one day. That is why we have a series of events and activities planned for the year ahead. These include
- further work with our senior leaders - both UEG and senior managers - to think about how they can support better health and wellbeing amongst our staff.
- Training for staff and students on topics such as de-stigmatising mental ill-health and mindfulness
- Further work with Health and Safety about stress and workloads
- Seminars on topics related to work and wellbeing
- Embedding of ways to manage mental wellbeing in leadership training and development
- Achieving Mindful Employer status
- Continuing to work with SUSU on their Time to Change Campaign
- Improving signposting and resources for staff and students
Catherine Pope
Faculty of Health Sciences
