Devon Wellbeing Hub – 100 referrals
Devon Wellbeing Hub has now supported more than a hundred colleagues since its launch on 31 March.
The Hub was set up a year into the COVID-19 pandemic in recognition of the challenging time colleagues in healthcare, social care and the police are having, both inside and outside of work.
We know that the past 18 months have been incredibly difficult, and have put pressure on people emotionally, financially and within their personal lives, as well as in their demanding jobs. The Hub now acts as a single place where someone can come along, speak to a member of the team about the challenges they are facing and create a plan for how to move forward. The Hub is a completely confidential service in addition to those that workplaces are offering to their staff.
Hub Colleague Wellbeing Practitioner Bella Jefferson wrote about the past few months of working for the Hub:
“We reached our 100th referral for the Devon Wellbeing Hub in July. It’s been a pleasure to work with our colleagues at this incredibly tough time and be able to give them a listening ear to support them. We’re able to help highlight what their current needs might be and point them towards services or support they can access to better manage their wellbeing at this incredibly tough time.
“It has been so rewarding and the positive feedback we have received from our colleagues accessing the Hub shows how truly needed this service was and that it came along at the right time. The feedback describes how we are able to tailor our work to the colleague’s needs, offer practical steps and direction to take to manage your wellbeing and open up opportunities for a wide range of support services that colleagues may not have previously been aware of.
“Working in the Devon Wellbeing Hub has been such a rewarding experience for me because I am passionate about wellbeing, particularly at a time such as this, and also keen to normalise to our colleagues that this can be a difficult time for us and that it is okay to not feel 100%. To see and hear the difference in the colleagues from when they first come to the Hub feeling overwhelmed and not knowing which direction to turn, to the clarity and direction they have leaving the session has been amazing and a pleasure to be a part of. We are hoping to spread the word further about the Devon Wellbeing Hub as we can see the opportunities this opens up for our colleagues accessing the Hub and want to continue offering this service for many others.”
93% of feedback from colleagues who have been supported by the Hub showed that they were very satisfied with the assessment session and wellbeing plan created.
One colleague said, “This service came at a time when life stress had taken over my wellbeing. Incredibly easy to access and very sympathetically dealt with, I would say to anyone with any worries, don’t hesitate; get in contact today.”
Another spoke about their experience of the Hub: “A kind, compassionate response to my stress and feelings of overwhelm at work. The wellbeing assessor helped me to make sense of my feelings. The use of appropriate questionnaires helped me to understand these feelings differently, and helped me to consider the support available to me.”
Alongside the individual offer for people with worries about any element of their wellbeing, the Hub offers support to teams who are collectively suffering as a result of working through the COVID-19 pandemic and would be interested in group support. Teams are offered the opportunity to meet with a clinical psychologist, who can assess the needs of the team before tailoring support to them. This may include reflective practice, supervision and coping strategies to help improve the psychological wellbeing of the whole team.
If you’d like to get in touch with the team at the Hub, you can call them on 0300 303 5455 or email at dpt.devonwellbeing@nhs.net. More information can be found on the Devon Wellbeing Hub website.