NHS Forth Valley’s Staff Support and Wellbeing Group concluded their first Staff Support and Wellbeing Taster Week on 20th January 2023, following a week of information, advice and taster sessions – all aimed at supporting the health and wellbeing of local staff.
Financial wellbeing was touched on with talks from the NHS Credit Union, Home Energy Scotland and the Money and Pensions Service – unearthing tips and tools to help make money work harder and reduce bills.
To support physical wellbeing there were health walks and e-bike trials with some delicious soup to warm up afterwards thanks to our colleagues at Forth Environment Link and Forth Bike.
Staff took time to destress and unwind with mindfulness sessions, Spaces for Listening and discovering the library’s wellbeing section. There were discussions on work-life balance and outdoor wellbeing with Tom from the Tree Line. And there were social activities with staff coming together to take part in quizzes, meet beautiful therapet Monet and his expert owner Brian and have a go at making some amazing felt-soaps thanks to the wonderful Aya and Artlink Central colleagues.
A massive thank you to everyone who participated and got in touch to provide feedback and suggestions – this is helping the Group to create a programme of wellbeing events for the rest of the year. Based on your response and requests, they will also look at increasing the notice provided for future activities, widen the variety of sessions on offer and provide more regular events. So please keep an eye on the staff intranet, the Staff Support and Wellbeing website or the new FV Support & Wellbeing Yammer group for more information and updates.
Some of the feedback and comments received from staff who took part in activities during the week are highlighted below:
“Money is tight… the money helper site will be really helpful.”
– Staff Member on Money and Pensions Service Talk.
“Great that Forth Valley is doing stuff for our wellbeing. It’s important.”
– Staff Member talking about the entire week of events.
“Loved being able to take time out of a hectic day and be creative.”
– Staff Member talking about the felt-soap making workshop.
“Brilliant way to start the day. Felt recharged and ready to go.”
– Staff Member after attending the Morning Mindfulness Session.
“Yo simply have to smile when you pet a dog… relieves all your tensions!”
– Staff Member after meeting Monet and Brian.
“I didn’t even know this existed, will definitely be signing up!”
– Staff Member after NHS Credit Union talk.
For those unable to attend, there are have recordings of the Money and Pensions Service, NHS Credit Union, Home Energy Scotland, and Work-Life Balance sessions. These can be accessed via the links below:
Finally, the week wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity and hard work of many colleagues and partners so the Group would like to extend its gratitude and appreciation to:
- Aya and Silvia from Artlink Central
- Brian Irwin and his therapet Monet
- Elaine Rae from the NHS Credit Union
- Gordon Harper from Forestry and Land Scotland
- Lilian Young and colleagues from Serco
- Malcolm, Matt, Sophie and Emma from Home Energy Scotland
- Steven and his wonderful colleagues Harry, Rhys, Sam, Holly, Bonnie, Stephi, Vicki, Ryan and Neil at Forth Environment Link and Forth Bike
- Tom Gold from The Tree Line
- Local staff including Caroline Wilson, Richard Payne, Linda McAuslan, Elizabeth Carney, Learning and OD colleagues, the Communications Department, estates colleagues and the wider Staff Support and Wellbeing Programme Group.
If you have any questions related to Staff Support and Wellbeing then please get in touch via fv.staffwellbeing@nhs.scot and remember the Staff Support and Wellbeing website is updated regularly and contains lots of helpful information, advice and support.
