What happened?
Farhan enjoyed the free online webinars on wellbeing put on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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After the peak of the pandemic, wellbeing support was reduced.
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Farhan wondered what his employer now offered to support staff wellbeing.
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Farhan saw talks being given during Wellbeing Week by academics and clinicians, but couldn't attend due to his shift pattern.
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Farhan really would have liked to attend the Pilates session too, but there was no way he’d be able to attend because he was on shift.
And then?
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On Farhan’s break, he spoke to his colleague, Grace, who mentioned that the unit had a Wellbeing Group who helped collate information about wellbeing activities and who helped staff make connections with colleagues.
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Farhan was unaware of the Wellbeing Groups but decided he would join.
How to improve
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Wellbeing opportunities need to be made available at times that all staff can attend. Information about them needs to be shared in the staff wellbeing newsletter or on the website.
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Employers need to prioritise staff wellbeing, offer genuine support, and ensure it is accessible to all. Constructive feedback from staff can help the organisation to grow this support.
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Structured conversations in the form of a Wellness Plan or a Health Passport could help staff prioritise their wellbeing and make it a formal part of their working life.
How we created the SWell Avatars
All characters, scenarios and events have been developed from data gathered as part of the SWell Birmingham research project. The scenarios and events have been altered from the versions provided by research participants to protect their anonymity.
How to use the SWell Avatars
We know from our research and our own experiences that when we are under pressure at work, sometimes we behave out of character, interactions with colleagues or with patients or their parents can be challenging, and sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. For example, unexpected patient deaths, which might lead to unpredictable reactions. Working in paediatric critical care is a high-pressure environment and so we know it is important to become self-aware, to prepare ourselves with the skills to manage those challenges, and to be able to navigate the unexpected.
We have created a set of Swell Avatars in different scenarios to highlight some of these kinds of situations and to make suggestions about how they might be managed successfully. We’re keen for our SWell Avatars to respect equality, diversity and inclusion principles and for them to represent the workforce. To achieve this, when creating the SWell Avatars, we have been mindful of the intersectionality between staff members and their protected characteristics (e.g., age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation).
We have created a number of scenarios, developed from real-life stories participants told us in our research. We have changed important details to protect their anonymity. We have identified potential solutions to the issues raised in the scenarios to help individuals find appropriate support and to help them reflect on and learn from the SWell Avatar scenarios. The SWell Avatars can be used to help facilitate a reflective conversation between colleagues, they might be used in mentoring, they could help teams identify new wellbeing initiatives or identify needs for staff training and development.
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