What was the challenge?

• As with every workplace, we have experienced staff absences due to mental health difficulties. This is a challenge we have been able to manage in a supportive and inclusive way but it has highlighted that prioritising mental health and wellbeing within our workplace is important.
• As a small team we often presume that staff members can “just ask” or feel able to communicate any issues – including those concerning mental health, stress and anxiety. We realised this wasn’t necessarily the case particularly when in reality work and home-life blur. 
• We hoped that an externally facilitated wellbeing event would let our staff know that we take our employee wellbeing seriously and that it forms an integral part of our business. We wanted our staff to feel acknowledged and also equipped with strategies to support their mental health in work and at home without feeling singled-out.
• Given the sensitivity and vulnerability of the topic, we needed a course without pressure to contribute to discussions that might be personally challenging. A conciliatory approach was required.

What were your goals?

• We wanted to hold a general wellbeing event for our staff in order to talk about recent HR policy updates and to acknowledge the importance of mental health and wellbeing awareness in the workplace (and beyond).
• We wanted to team-wide training to launch Wellbeing at Deryn and give it the prominence it deserves as a business priority not an add-on initiative.
• We wanted a forum to share ideas – with every staff member being given the opportunity to be part of formulating what Deryn’s Wellbeing programmes might look like.
• We were keen to stimulate discussion around causes of stress and acknowledge that work/ home-life are rarely distinct. We believed this was best achieved by an external facilitator who would bring expertise and neutrality to steer a session on identifying stress and anxiety, and present ideas on developing resilience and coping strategies that might help in the perpetual juggle of work/life.

What was the solution?