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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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!

19. Contact details Deborah Latham Head of Community Support Services deborah.latham@chsgroup.org.uk