Being in good physical and in mental health . Felling happy and being able to do the things that make me feel good about my self.

Thanks Veda, that's really helpful. Action for happiness created their 10 keys to happier living based on scientific research. It is a great reference point of how we can all build in little focal points throughout our day, to support our happiness and wellbeing. From doing things for others, connecting people through to taking care of our physical health, this helps us to have a sense of control in uncertain times where it an all feel overwhelming. https://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys

Balance! Knowing it's ok to take time to yourself, your family, your friends as well as the people we serve through our work, and in the same vein trying not to compare yourself to other people who seem to devote every working and personal minute to their jobs and to people on the street. I always feel a lot of guilt about not giving enough time compared to others, so managing my own expectations is a key to my wellbeing.

Thanks Rachel- it definitely is key to supporting our wellbeing. Just to let you know, we will be releasing some details next week about a couple of joint trainings we will be offering to frontline staff on Personal Effectiveness; Gaining some control and calming a worrying mind. were joining forces with the Directory of Social Change. We'll add details to our 'What's on' section, so please look out for these sessions in case they are helpful.

Hi Tasha, Amanda and everyone :)
My thoughts on wellbeing are of a positive state of emotional, social, spiritual and physical health. (Without being self-critical as it is quite a challenge to achieve a whole state of wellbeing in the best of circumstances, sometimes I do feel that I need to place a bit more focus on certain areas at times) Doing and finding joy in the small things is a really helpful reminder!

Hi Donna! Thank you for your reply! I agree, for me doing and finding the joy in small things is a helpful reminder!

Without being self-critical as it is quite a challenge to achieve a whole state of wellbeing in the best of circumstances - this is SO TRUE

Some great resources provided so far that I am looking forward to reviewing, using and sharing with my colleagues. Continuing working during the pandemic has been a blessing but sometimes it has felt like there is no time for myself because everyone has so many problems to deal with. It is important to remember that our health and wellbeing is just as important, it has taken me quite a while to realise this though!

Looking after our wellbeing is important as it helps us prevent burnout and be able to support others to the best of our abilities. The Centre for Clinical Intervention, Australia, has some brilliant resources for looking after ourselves. We printed some of their leaflets out and left these out for people attending our conference to take away. You might find these helpful too. You can search by different themes and within the subsection, there are exercises you can do to work through themes or refer to their information leaflets. These include what is self compassion, assertiveness, worry through to procrastination. See here for their website https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself

Thank you Gregory. it's really important that we allow ourselves to have a balance. We really need to take breaks, have firm boundaries of when is our work and private time- particularly when we are working from home. Bird facilitated a session about building resilience in a fast-paced world for us in 2019. This explored how we live in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) times, which is more apt than ever. They created a handout with some useful references from TED Talks through to apps that can support us. See here https://frontlinenetwork.org.uk/media/1650/info.pdf Their website also offers lots of helpful blogs and workshops.

Hi Daniel, that is definitely important. Here at St Martin's Charity, we sent staff a questionnaire to look at wellbeing and what we could do to help support staff in this area. We also did this during lockdown to see if there was anything which needed to be changed in light of the current situation.

It would be good to hear about other positive actions and resources organisations have put into place to help support their employees' wellbeing. Do please add them below!

Plenty of time outside, and ensuring that my homeworking space is separate to other spaces within the house so that it doesn't feel that I am at work all the time.

I've found that there are many helpful resources online which have helped to try and ground myself during this time. Bird facilitated a session about building resilience in a fast-paced world for us in 2019. This explored how we live in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) times, which is more apt than ever. They created a handout with some useful references from TED Talks on vulnerability and feelings of shame through to apps that can support us. See here https://frontlinenetwork.org.uk/media/1650/info.pdf Their website also offers lots of helpful blogs and workshops.

Hi Gregory, that's very true. Talking to colleagues and reflective practice is really helpful at this time. We involved Karen Shukla from Mental Health First Aid England at our 2019 Conference, to facilitate a session on mental health, the workplace and you. One of the resources she provided to attendees was take 10 together, which provides tips on how we start a conversation about mental health. This asks us to take 10mins to start meaningful conversations with people around us about their mental health- from loved ones to colleagues and provides practical tips for this.
https://frontlinenetwork.org.uk/media/1644/take-10-together-at-work.pdf

We also have a general link to Mental Health FIrst Aid England at the top of the page. They run a number of different courses around mental health, including training for Mental Health First Aiders who are trained in supporting colleagues around mental health and associated issues.

If you are looking for some resources around mental health and working from home, Mind also have a dedicated page of information around support during this time and tips for working from home. They also have adapted their Wellness Action Plans to home-working, which is a tool developed for employees and managers to look at triggers, signs and support around emotional wellbeing: https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/coronavirus-and-work/

Dr Amanda Skeate from St Basil’s in Birmingham, facilitated a really insightful session about Psychological Informed Environments, and what this means in practice. As a service, they provide support to young people experiencing homelessness in Birmingham and have used a PIE approach to ensure young people feel safe, cared about and understood. As we are working remotely, using a PIE approach can help us to work collaboratively with people we are working with; to ensure people can achieve their own goals and aspirations. It supports our understanding of complex trauma within a safe environment.
https://frontlinenetwork.org.uk/media/1645/handout.pdf