At Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, our staff do amazing things each day to ensure that our service users receive the care and compassion they need to start their recovery journey. However, like anyone, our staff are human and need some care when experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties. This is where our Staff in Mind Wellbeing Support Hub comes in to ensure that our staff feel just as taken care of as our service users.
Our Staff in Mind Hub is led by our trust and aims to help all members of Sussex health and care staff receive support for their mental health. The team works to ensure you are supported and heard in all our work environments. They do this by hosting webinars where they can help educate team leaders on how to create work environments where creativity and inclusion can thrive. This, in turn, helps our staff give better care to our service users. We also offer the chance to talk about anything through anonymous staff surveys. The surveys are open to all staff and give the opportunity to express anything they might want to say but don’t know who to talk to.
The Staff in Mind Hub also offers a confidential and discreet NHS service for staff who may need a bit of extra support dealing with their mental health. The hub aims to give access to mental healthcare and priority access to the best care for people who might be scared about seeking help or who might not want to go through their own work support. So how does it work? The first thing is to fill in a self-assessment so the well-being team can find out what they need to do the best to help you. Afterwards, they will have a chat so that you can both decide on the best treatment; this could be self-help, psychoeducation or referral to IAPT / secondary services. The team will also support you in stepping up to more intensive secondary mental health care if needed. After your full assessment, the team will agree with you on any required follow-up and timings to check to see how you are doing and if you feel you need any more help. Our team will be there every step of the way so that you feel fully supported.
In addition to this, all our staff at the trust are welcome to join our Valuing Lived Experience staff network. The network is a trust run initiative which aims to tackle the stigma around mental health and work and is for all staff of the partnership who have lived experience with mental health. This can be from themselves or someone they know being diagnosed or any experience of mental distress life can throw at us. They offer meetings and events to help highlight the value that these experiences can bring to our practice and job roles.
If you want to find out more about our Staff in Mind Wellbeing Support Hub then click here