At Sussex Partnership, our staff do amazing things daily to give our service users the care and compassion they need to start their recovery journey. However, like anyone, our staff who work for us are only human. They need some care when experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties like anyone else. That's why we aim to offer a range of services to help our staff feel ok again.
Firstly, we offer our Staff in Mind service. The Staff in Mind Hub is led by an outstanding team at Trust and aims to help all staff members receive support for their mental health. They do this by hosting webinars to help educate team leaders on creating work environments where creativity and inclusion can thrive. This, in turn, helps our staff provide better care to our service users. The Hub also offers a confidential and discreet NHS service for staff needing extra support dealing with their own mental health. They aim to provide mental health support and priority access for staff who might be scared about seeking help or who might not want to go through their work support services. So how does it work? The first thing is to fill in a self-assessment so they can determine how to offer the best care to suit your needs. Afterwards, they will work with you to decide on the best treatment; this could be self-help, psychoeducation or referral to IAPT / secondary services. The team can also help you seek more intensive secondary mental health care if you and the team agree it would be beneficial. Afterwards, the team will follow up to check-in with you about how you are doing and if you need more help. Since launching in January 2021, the Hub has seen over 1400 members of staff. The Hub also offers the chance to talk about anything through anonymous staff surveys. The surveys are open to all staff and allow them to express anything they want while enabling them to remain anonymous.
Following on from this, all our staff at the Trust are welcome to join our Valuing Lived Experience staff network. The network is an initiative run by a team at the Trust. It aims to tackle the stigma around mental health and work and is for all partnership staff with lived experience with mental health. This can be from themselves or someone they know being diagnosed or any understanding 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.
Lastly, we know that one of the best ways to keep your mental health in good condition is to take time away from your role and maintain a healthy work-life balance. That's why we are committed, wherever possible, to providing working patterns that enable staff greater control over their working lives. If we can find a working pattern that benefits both the team and the Trust, we will work with you to try and make it happen.
If you want to find out more about our Staff in Mind Wellbeing Support Hub then click here