Subject: Wellbeing Champions newsletter
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Welcome
To the September Wellbeing Champions newsletter
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September
newsletter
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Update from Karen
Welcome to our first newsletter, it is great to see all the
activity happening across our wellbeing community. We have some
import projects underway that I am leading, including our
first Compassion Café taking place on Monday. Our plans are shaping
up for Mental Health Awareness day in October where we will be
having a Big Conversation around Mental Health and launching
further support tools such as Silvercloud and Sleepio. I am
meeting with Faculties and Professional Services areas to agree
plans following the Wellbeing Survey and we will be launching our
Wellbeing Steering Group in October. I have also focused on
my wellbeing and just last week went to the Open Air Theatre at
Regents Park with family, please remember to focus on you.
Update from Kristina
Since starting my new role as a Wellbeing Coordinator in
August, I was working on launching UCL Wellbeing website and the
Moodle page for Wellbeing Champions. My aim is to make you feel a
part of the Wellbeing Champion community, to help you exchange ideas
and to support you in the amazing work that you do. I am looking forward to meeting all of you at our events.
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World Suicide Prevention Day – 10th September 2018
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We will be
running a number of events for the World Suicide Prevention Day on 10th September.
We will be
running a Suicide Prevention Workshop for people managers. Please
promote this within your department and share the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/myevent?eid=49641271379
Please note
that we will be delivering this training to Wellbeing Champions on 29th
October, so you don’t need to attend this session.
In the
evening, we will be hosting a Compassion Café from 5.30pm till
7.30pm at Print Room Café. This is open to all and you do not need to
book. Our compassion café is a safe space to come along and have a
conversation. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available along with a
listening ear and a friendly voice. People with mental health first aid
suicide intervention skills are supporting this event. Please come
along and invite others.
In preparation
for the World Suicide Prevention Day, you can complete online
training provided by Zero Suicide Alliance. You can access the
training here and please feel free to share it within your
departments to raise awareness.
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Spotlight on Wellbeing Champion - Michele
Farmer
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Michele
Farmer (Disability IT Support Analyst at ISD) is running the
now weekly Tuesday craft class for disabled students to relax,
learn new skills, have fun, and meet other disabled students.
The
students have tried a range of things such as felt bead making,
patchwork, printing t-shirts, and also silk flower bouquets.
Alongside
this, Michele has developed an agile working training program to
encourage users to look after their health with the changing work
environment. It consists of workstation, chair, laptop setup and
use; services available at UCL should a problem arise; and some
apps and ideas for dealing with daily stress.
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The Faculty of
Brain Sciences ran a Step Count Challenge in July 2018.
The idea was
to encourage greater physical activity by being more active than you
would usually be.
160 people
participated and formed teams from across the Faculty: Division of
Psychiatry, Institute of Neurology, Ear Institute, Institute of
Ophthalmology and the Division of Psychology and Language
Sciences.
The winning
team totalled almost 3 million steps in a month!
If you would
like to run a similar challenge in your department and would like some
advice, please contact Christine
Gaston
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Moodle page
for wellbeing champions is currently being updated and should be
available to use by the end of September.
The page will
contain links to useful resources, the list of current and past
initiatives to give you inspiration for local events and a forum to
keep in touch with other champions.
If there is
anything else you believe will be useful to add to the page, please let
me know.
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IoE are running sessions on networked
disability software, Read and Write (R&W) and Inspiration for
all.
Click here for more information and
to book
These programs are great for anyone;
R&W works well also for those for whom English is not their first
language. Inspiration is a mind mapping package that is great for time
management, structuring reports, creating presentations and creating
organograms.
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Thinking ahead
8 – 12
October is Mental Health Awareness Week and we are planning to run a
few events during this time. This is a good time for you to start
thinking what Mental Health related events you can arrange in your
department. If you would like to
volunteer to help us with one of the events, please contact me on ohw-wellbeing@ucl.ac.uk
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Save the date
On Tuesday
2nd October, we are arranging a lunchtime event for
Wellbeing Champions. This is an opportunity for you to network with
each other, to receive an update from UCL Wellbeing and to find out
about new tools available to UCL staff with a focus on SilverCloud – a
CBT-based online tool. More information and an invite will follow
shortly.
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What would you like to see in the next newsletter?
If you
would like us to cover any specific topics in the next newsletter,
please email ohw-wellbeing@ucl.ac.uk with your ideas.
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Best wishes,
Kristina Middleton
Wellbeing Coordinator
Occupational Health and
Wellbeing
University College London
www.ucl.ac.uk/wellbeing
tel: +44(0)20 7679 2802 (reception)
Follow us on 
@UCL_Wellbeing
Postal address: UCL Occupational Health and
Wellbeing, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Department location: 4th floor, The
Health Centre Building, 3 Gower Place, WC1E 6BN
Click for the UCL
Occupational Health website.
UCL’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) through our
partner Care First is available for staff 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week and 365 days a year. The service is available to students
between 5pm to 9am weekdays, at weekends and during UCL Closure periods. T: 0800
197 4510 or log on to the OHW EAP page: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/occ_health/eap.php
