STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Hello, everyone.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Hello to everyone on Zoom. Don't know if you can see us.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And yeah, so we have been asked to give seminar on metropolitan well-being in DVD
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: department is looking to more for wellbeing and mental health. So this, this is
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: so. Okay. And who are we? Everyone in the room knows us, and so Martha is a PP, wellbeing ally. And I am a mental health, Crusader. I'll explain what those mean.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: But we thought we really should start from the basics. So what does well-being mean? What does mental health even mean?
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So yeah. But so well, being, it's basically when you actually feel good, and you can cope with things that it's happening on your life, either, like
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: normally, let's say so. You have a way of doing things, a way of living, and that's maintained over time. So this is kind of this is the official definition of of well-being. So this is something that is up to us to identify if it's good well-being or bad, because this is objective and at the same time can be some sort of objective. So we have. We are our own thermometer for measuring that
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: doesn't know that help.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: There we go. Yeah. So then, what is mental health?
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And in fact, throughout this I'm going to get some different definitions of things simply because some definitions make more sense for some people. The definitions make sense for others. I think mental health in terms of emotional and psychological health. We talk about physical health for our bodies. Mental health is the same thing for our minds. Another way to think about mental health is that really just encompasses all types of health
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: that affect how we think and we feel. And and of course, how we behave.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Okay? So
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: when mental health or well-being is low, there's different ways to look at it, and certainly from an employer. Perspective. There's there's effects that can can come in, you know, like this list here. Obviously, stress burnouts, presenteeism, absenteeism, or just high turnover. But
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: I would actually look at it more from a an individual perspective, that yeah.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: we we should be looking after ourselves. We should be looking after each other.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: For our own health, for our colleagues help and empathetic way. Do ask.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Presenteeism is
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: In short, showing up to work because you feel you have to show up to work. You should show up to work when really
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you should maybe take a break and something like that so it could be turning up to work. And really.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you're not effective. You're not getting getting stuff done, because really the best thing is to go to rest or something like that.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Since certainly absenteeism, then, is is
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: not showing up to work. I, personally.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you know, I think if someone's not showing up to work, there's a reason, I would think, what is the emphatic reason behind that
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: your microphone gets used.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Okay? So yeah, there's all these, these effects
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: affects us. It affects our lives, how we interact with others, and so on. Yeah, for mental health.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: yeah, that's how we think how we feel. It can cause distress. It can cause us to not be able to function
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: as effectively as normal. Be that in our work or our interactions with others.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Okay, well, let's go on and explain. To do 2 different roles for well being
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: so. For the wellbeing ally. This is a new program put in place in last in the middle of last year. So the idea of the well being ally is just for you to have someone to talk with in case
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you need to talk in general. So there are several purposes for Webinar, and the main ones are listed there. So basically, it's like
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: to make you feel comfortable to talk about anything you need and facilitate this culture of openness, not necessarily only talking with us, but also to talk with your colleagues and with your family, or whoever you feel like you feel comfortable to talk with. There are a lot of resources that we are going to list, some of them.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: so for another point of the well-being allies, to spread the word, and to try to make other people to become allies, or actually to take the training to also for you to have those resources that we are trained for. But you are not committed to become a well-being ally, but at the same time, as more we are, it's better for our workplace to create
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and well-being. It's supported in 4 pillars, which is the financial, the physical, the social, and the mental, emotional well-being.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So for each of them. So what would do we understand by financial well-being? So this is how we feel about money and about our economic situation, and how this affects us at work or on our personal lives.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Social is something that we are more familiar with. But this impact, this also includes family friends, colleagues at work. How we perceive these interpersonal relationships and our feeling of belonging in an environment
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: for the physical well-being. It's something that we are more familiar with, because this is more related on how we feel by doing activities during the day. So at the end of the day we are completely fatigue. We sleep well, we have a good
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and nutrition habits, and we are active. And then for the mental and emotional well being that, then we
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: focus more on that part later on. It's more dynamic stage. So it's how you internally feel. How would you cope with different things in your life?
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So, not having a good well-being, so poor well-being can lead to a number of things that can affect us in many different in many different aspects of our lives, so like detrimental, detrimental health, like feeling lonely even if we are not. But this is our internal feeling, tiredness, stress. HIV. Even we can develop some psychological disorders.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So which is the role of the of the well being allied. So we are there to listen, to support and to sign post you to
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: so, as I was saying before, to create this openness of Let's talk, we are not gonna judge you. We are not going to take part in any kind of conflict or anything. This is.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: let's have a chat. Let's have a coffee. Let's see how things are going, please.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: We are there there, and also to provide support in crisis situations. This is obviously all confidential. So if you come to talk with any of the well being allies, everything is confidential. This confidentiality can be broken if there is any risk of you harming yourself or others.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So what we are not is, we are not clinicians, so we are not psychologists, and we cannot diagnose. But we are there to you to identify. If I mean, if you're struggling and you don't know that maybe you need professional help.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: This is this the role of both mental health and well being alive to guide you? Maybe you need more help. So let's let's find out together.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So this is just a
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: a bit more details on each of the pillars. So what do we do in for each fan is just, you know, reduces the amount of talking about money where you can find support. If you're in trouble, also on the social perspective, let's try to create. I don't know activities, and there is a number of seminars and other activities across the campus that will help people to
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: like being a more connected, and that can help on the social well being.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: For the physical well-being. Yes. So make support for
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and guide you through a different areas to improvement or different resources
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and for mental health. The most important thing here is that you feel comfortable by talking about these topics, and let's try to find out how we can support you or you can support others. And that's also you can feel that you can be yourself in any environment
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: ends link to that. We have here our
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: so
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: yeah, I would actually start by saying mental health as a title I I would probably rename it. Mental health, contact person, or something like that. Really, the role has 2 distinct parts. As I look at it.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: one is general. Mental health supports. It's very much the same as what Marta does as well being allied. It's being there for to talk to people, to listen more than anything, and to help
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: the signposting, stressing self care really being there, to, to, yeah, to to talk in this
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and for day to day stuff.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And then the second part of it is the the 1st Aid part, which I would say, is really anything with the risk of harm. So there's mental health. 1st aiders get extensive training in dealing with anything that could be
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: at risk as a risk harm to an individual or someone else. So, for example, people experiencing suicidal thoughts or psychosis which really is seeing or hearing things that aren't there.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: What kind of accounts those others? Those are the main ones.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and yeah, as I say, mental health 1st aid, or is trained to to listen, have judgment, provide support.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and we are trying to recognize and understand a range of things that affect mental health. So, you know, identifying panic attack. For example.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: many experience people experiencing them won't know what it is. What's happening.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Scary experience. We can't understand everything that someone is is going through, but we can empathetically listen.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: discuss support.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: As Marta mentioned. As with the well-being ally. All conversations are confidential, except if there's a risk of harm, the example, if someone we're having a conversation, and they even joke about suicide, even if it really seems like a joke, I'm obligated to take it seriously.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: I will, I will, even if it really seems like a joke I will not take as a joke, because
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you know not better. That's done.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you know, really being a joke.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So yeah.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and yeah, also, a mental health 1st leader is is not a clinician can diagnose anything. We're not a therapist. We're really there as an initial
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: initial contact point, initial help and sign posting.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Yeah, yeah.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And and
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: talking of mental health and and the role thinking about mental health. I just thought I'd include a slide on.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: This is something I call mental bandwidth. I thought I'd include it, because sometimes it can actually help, or it has helped some people explaining a bit about how to think about mental health and how it affects us.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So yeah, it's something I've I've come up with. But
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you can think of it as we all have a certain amount of mental bandwidth. And this is just
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: allows us to process information and deal with stuff.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So each day we have a certain amount of mental bandwidth,
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and different things that we do will use up some of that bandwidth, and when we run out of bandwidth we struggle to process additional things.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: How much bandwidth we have can change day to day, you know, if you're tired or ill, and you wake up in the morning, you might just have less bandwidth that day you have less capacity to deal with. Deal with some.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and if you're stressed, if there's things on your mind that are bothering you, there's just too much going on that's gonna be using up a lot of your bandwidth, and then you will have less additional bandwidth to to deal with other stuff.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And this can. So part of the reason I mentioned this is because then
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you you might find that it might be you. One day you're struggling to get something done.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: You know I can normally do this. Why? Why is why am I struggling with this again? People can get frustrated. And it could just be because there's too much else going on too much stress. You don't have enough bandwidth to to deal with this this extra stuff, or you might see someone else who's working and thinking, why are they not doing this task? It's easy. They might be
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: dealing with other stuff. That means they don't have much capacity to to spare.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: As I say, you can help us just understand ourselves, understand others. So I thought I mentioned it.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Perseta.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So okay, one of the other things we do. One of the main things we do is signposting. So here we just have collected a number of different resources that you can find. So one of the main ones is the source. And here there is a main web page. It's for the for the well-being. And this
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: actually point to a number of other resources that you can check also this list of the all the welding lines which are across the Uk, right? So of course you don't need to. If you need a welding line, you don't need to come to me. There is a whole network, so there you can find the names of
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: People in the network. There is the the working app for all the employees, and there are many, many resources in the Csc, there are like platform for doing exercise meditation. So that's that's actually quite good. And recently, I discover this Mental Health Support Directory. So if you click on the link has the presentation. So you will find
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: all this list of different
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: samples that that you can find useful
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: depending on the situation you might be on. So there are
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: there are resources for the Nhs for grieving situation. For housing.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: It's it's quite complex. So
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: just a week ago, and there are also courses in oracle, so there will be no light training. It's available on Oracle. I didn't put anything here because oracle shutting down. I don't know how it's gonna look like in oracle fusion. But this is this is available there. But also there is a number of courses which are highly recommended because we we used to hear hear their stress.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: What what does it mean? I mean, there are many people don't understand what that means. And then these courses are very good because they go to the point they dedicate a full day to for you to understand what means stress, and where are you? Maybe if you're struggling with the stress, what is stress? What is this stress? And
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: that gives you also some understanding on maybe what's going on. Maybe you're not stressed. Maybe. You are on a different state, but at least give some
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: These give more knowledge, so they are quite good and highly recommended to take again. I don't know how they're going where they are going to land our profession, but
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And this is not only last week the week of mental health. It's months of mental health. So this is published. Every now and then on the Sdhc. Bulletin.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: and at the bottom part you can see all the I mean the different events upcoming events. This is just for you, but every every month you will see a bunch of different seminars and very nice.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: yeah, very nice workshops on different topics.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: You you mentioned the the Cssc, yes, I think it's also worth mentioning, and I will advertise and highly recommend that the Recreation Society and the Harwell Recreation Society as well. Okay? Because I mean, they do lots of things they do classes. They do sports activities. I play football in the Harwell one. There's the.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: There's a gym in the rail Recreation society things like this, right? Which is, yes, okay, I will. I will include it. Actually to become a member of the but yes, it's a very good recommendation. Thank you. Yeah, we, we might come to you for what these slides up and make them available
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: going forward. So yeah, adding other resources is, yeah, we'd like to collect a lot of resources.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Yeah. And also, I mean, this is, this is just some, some links that you can find. But ideally, we would like to also, like, you know, to build some kind of
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: community doing all the activities that can gather us together. And yes, facilitate this. We will. We will talk a bit just just about that. But every idea will be very welcome. And of course the support, because we don't know what you think about all these topics, because it's not an easy topic to to study
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: the conversation. Oh, sorry oops.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: yeah. So one of the other things that we can talk to people about and suggest is self care.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: And this is really just doing things to take care of our health
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: actively managing on this when it occurs that that makes a lot of sense in terms of physical health, but it's just as applicable to mental health as well. It's doing things that help us.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: The old feel back.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Some things might be a little small things that you do each day or each week, or whatever it might be.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: bigger, less frequent things like holiday or something. And different things work for different people. So it's always just worth thinking about different options
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: discussing. That's helpful. I just chucked in a load of different possible examples, obviously completely non exhaustive. But yeah, you know, making things can be in there, walking in just being out in nature, as is shown to be really good for us. Interacting with other people or animals can help
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: that can especially a long time. It's always individual
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: just finding things that work for us and and help us make feel to help us feel better.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: just decompress, if whatever is needed.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: an example of different ways to think about it. You can also think about self care in terms of, you know, neurotransmitters. What's what's going on in our brains? There are different, these
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: different neurotransmitters and I just grabbed an image from online.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Oh.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: the different neurotransmitters that make us feel good. There are different triggers for for each of them. So with yeah.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Dopamine completing small tasks.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: gives us that little reward same way celebrating so small wins it does. It does the same
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: gives us a small feeling or helps us feel a little better.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So if you know if if thinking about it this way helps, and then great tons, these-, these sorts of things online, showing what different kinds of activities trigger different different neurotransmitter responses. And so on. And sometimes, yeah, this this can help you identify what we use.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Can I help you?
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So okay, then, we're just gonna mention this. Take a slide to mention. You know.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you want to become a well, being ally, and that's our 1st aider. What does that involve?
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: It's just a half day training, and you don't commit to become an ally if you take the training. That's why it's highly highly recommended and encouraged, or if you have the time, just just do the training, it's half a day. It gives you a lot of
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: an overview of well-being in general in the different aspects. And yeah, the resources that are basically the same as we are putting here. But it's for you to get this perspective, because we are not. All the same, we sometimes we just don't want to talk. We want to just figure it out. That's that's a good start, and you don't commit. So that's that's the good point of this training is self development. It's part of
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: your all the trainings. And yeah, as I said, it's in our record great. So
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: multiple line managers, I would say even more encouraged to them, because if you people will go to their line manager sometimes right? And then
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: this is good to have some knowledge on the topic. So even if you're not gonna lie. If at least you know about that, then can make line managers be
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: better job, I would say in the in this regard and can only help
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: for the mental health. 1st aid or training. That's not actually done by Ukri. It's done externally by national body mental health 1st Aid or England.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: It's a 4 day course. It is pretty intense, emotionally as well. You go into quite some depth and some difficult topics, and the expectation is that if you do the course, you should become a mental health 1st aider. After that you are not required to. Obviously, if you go through the course and decide. This isn't for me.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Then that's okay. But yeah, that's the more the expectation is more with it that you then are on the list with.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: yeah, I think in April.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: switch over. If you want to do either of those trends just in touch with us, we can directly put you in contact with the people.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: So yeah, conclusions.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Well, being in mental health is important. You believe that. And you understand that. And we now have
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: well-being ally, and that's about 1st April.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Speak to us, or colleagues, or friends or relatives, or whoever you want.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: If you have any concerns, we're looking for help.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: We yeah, speaking to people, Is- Is- is good. It does help. We want to encourage that culture.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: External help is available, too. And we can sign those people to that. That's a big part of our goals.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: Yeah. So yeah, you did just mention that. It's not only for you. So it's.
STFC-RAL-CR03 R61: you see someone struggling, and you just want to talk about that with someone else. Just sure.