Provider Forum 20 Jan 2016 Local Health Partnership - Mental Wellbeing Work & Mindful Employer Deborah Latham Head of Community Support Services CHS Group

LHPs in Cambridgeshire Cambridge Improving Health Partnership East Cambs Health & Wellbeing Partnership Fenland Health & Wellbeing Partnership Hunts Health & Wellbeing Partnership South Cambs Health & Wellbeing Partnership  Set up to improve local health outcomes  Achieve strategic aims of H&WB & CCGs

The South Cambs LHP  CATCH GP’s (North and South Villages)  Children, Family and Adult Services  Public Health and Primary Care Trust  Health and Housing SCDC  VCS; Care Network  COPE ‐ Cambs Older People's Executive  Cambridge Housing Society (CHS)  Addenbrookes Hospital; Age UK  Cambridgeshire Healthwatch

South Cambs LHP formed a ‘Mental Health Working Group’  To try to help agencies improve the service they provide to people with mental wellbeing issues  To educate and supporting staff to deal with such issues better, and staff’s own mental wellbeing  To share between agencies: information, good ideas and learning

The issues for our organisations  Is a perception among service providers that mental health support needs are increasing across all customer groups  That mental health issues among customers are increasingly affecting the wellbeing and productivity of staff working in social and community-based services  Triple whammy! As there also appears to also be a reduction in service capacity resulting from Government funding cuts

Drivers Money Worries Money Family/ Personal AusterityHealth Customers Resources Task overload Lack of control

Austerity Lack of Resource Customer stress Lack of provision Staff inability to resolve Reduced job satisfaction Increased staff stress

Resources  We can’t raise substantial additional resources, but can work better together, and share existing resources  By pooling what we do, being focussed and timely, we can be more effective than doing things separately  There are some marginal costs of meeting but the gains should outweigh the effort  Becoming Mindful Employers

Example of what we are we doing  Focussed on a big issue: delivering a great service to people whose mental wellbeing is compromised  Therefore training to equip customer facing staff to manage interactions with customers who are upset or communicate in illogical and challenging ways  For staff in customer facing roles, e.g. customer services, dealing with repairs issues, Home Help and other roles

Outcomes sought from training  Staff feel equipped and informed to work in a way that is more effective with people with compromised mental wellbeing – who are stressed, angry, illogical/confused, can’t cope  Customers experience a more sensitive, responsive, adapted service that recognises their needs and delivers fairly  Customers and staff experience less stress in their interactions

Outcomes - continued  There is a reduction in escalation of disputes and conflicts – for example in housing in Anti-Social Behaviour cases  Increased resilience and wellbeing among staff - who then are less likely to take time off work. Therefore lower absenteeism - and ‘presenteeism’ (where at work but not functioning well)  Staff support customer wellbeing effectively and quickly continue their work

Training content  Understanding why people behave in the way they do, including in illogical ways - supported by a presentation  Share experiences come across at work  Think through why people behave in these ways, to gain greater understanding  Look at the impact of challenging behaviour: difficulty getting your job done

Training content - continued  Look at the cumulative effect of strained communication  How to leave the stress behind  How to debrief yourself  How to de-escalate the situation and focus on your job  Planning our own strategies for taking care of ourselves when faced with challenging behaviour

CHS – a ‘Mindful Employer’  Charter for Employers who are positive about mental health - includes:  Increasing awareness of mental health  Training for managers to provide non- judgemental management support to staff  CHS became a Mindful Employer to better support ALL staff to be successful in their work - recognising stress and work pressure as issues many staff experience

Benefits to employers  Being a Mindful Employer = cost benefits  Spending 80p on health promotion and support saves £4 in costs of absenteeism, temporary staff cover and presenteeism  Being a Mindful Employer = well supported staff who are enabled to do a good job in the challenging environment we are faced with

What can you do?  Regular 1 to 1 meeting and appraisals – first question: “How are you?”  Employee health helpline – e.g. BUPA - for telephone/face to face counselling  Survey staff regularly, analysing the results and taking action  CHS ‘Stress Toolkit’ for managers to use  Non-line management supervision, e.g. external, in high stress areas of work

What you could do - continued  Sign up for ‘Mindful Employer’  Develop a mental health strategy to support staff and customers better and to promote resilience, incl. training  Promote activities, especially those involving exercise – such as Walk to Work Week, cycle to work, weight loss club  Join your LHP and form a Mental Health Working Group!  Send staff on the training I talked about!

Contact details Deborah Latham Head of Community Support Services