Here For Each Other: Our Dorset's Enhanced Staff Wellbeing Service

The wellbeing physiotherapy team is focused on health promotion. We can offer support, motivation and guidance to improve wellbeing. We adopt a proactive and holistic approach to workplace wellbeing, and focus on preventative factors, as well as being highly responsive to individual and team needs.  

We are part of a multi-disciplinary team, and work alongside psychological support to enable us to deliver a person-centred whole mind and body approach. We understand that exercise and movement are one of the essential pillars to health, and this service allows us to holistically address issues to ensure that the pillars of health are fully addressed.  

Our team can offer virtual support and guidance regarding simple musculoskeletal issues alongside client’s wellbeing issues, for complex MSK issues. We can directly refer into Outpatient MSK services if appropriate, and ensure that you are being signposted to the right service, as well as giving advice and support in the meantime.

We work closely with many other services such as the Pain team, MSK, Occupational health and PCNs across Dorset to ensure that you have streamlined access to services required, and that you can access the most suitable service at the earliest point possible.” 

• Postural awareness course (on-going for 4 weeks) 
• Preventative advice 
• Movement and wellbeing contracts 
• Motivation and guidance on how to return to or increase exercise safely  
• Identifying and connecting with wellbeing champions so we can continue to train to support staff  
• Manual handling issues/advice – signposting or supporting  
• Virtual assessment of simple MSK issues and support with advice and guidance, for more complex MSK issues we can refer directly to Outpatient MSK services as appropriate
• Ergonomic advice
• Exercise prescription
• Guidance and advice regarding recovery following COVID 
• Supporting staff in care homes 
• Supporting with returning to work

This list is not exhaustive, we welcome you to bring your issues to us and we will come up with bespoke solutions for you or your team.  

The psychology team is made up of health and wellbeing coaches, psychological therapists and clinical psychologists. We can offer a range of services to support staff mental wellbeing, as well as rapid access referral pathways to other services such as Steps 2 Wellbeing, community mental health (CMHT) and adult mental health.

We also host a range of events and courses you can take part in, including mindfulness courses and live lunchtime drop-in sessions focusing on different areas of mental wellbeing.

Our team of qualified health and wellbeing coaches offers a selection of ways we engage with staff across the Integrated Care System from group wellbeing events, whole team support and 1:1 coaching conversations. 

Coaching is the art and science of unlocking the potential of individuals or teams through non-directive, yet purposeful conversations. Coachees will require an open mind-set and a will to work collaboratively with the coach to find solutions and to identify areas for consideration or challenges faced. We encourage coachees to challenge assumptions, set goals and develop a deepened insight into their thinking patterns, behaviours and their impacts on others.  

Our health and wellbeing coaches use coaching methods and skills that focus on creating balanced and healthy lifestyles. This can be helping to manage a healthy work-life balance, creating plans to build more activity into your work week or even reviewing what is really important in life. This work strongly encourages motivation, self-awareness and personal empowerment.

A holistic approach to wellbeing is essential as our work and home lives both impact each other. We pride ourselves on treating each person that we work with as individuals and bring a range of tools and techniques to try on for size.  

Some of the services our coaches offer:

• Team wellbeing support 
• 1:1 wellbeing coaching conversations
• Tuning-in to wellbeing sessions for team meetings 
• Psychological First Aid sessions for teams 
• Team away day wellbeing activities/sessions
• Wellbeing Wednesday top-up sessions via MS Teams
• Support and collaboration with Wellbeing Champions 

CAT is a collaborative therapy that integrates the best of different therapeutic approaches. CAT is able to address the underlying causes of people’s problems such as experiences of childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma that led to complex relational problems later in life. Equally, CAT takes into account the social circumstances of a person’s life that influences their difficulties.

CAT is one of the few therapies available in the NHS that allows individuals with complex relational problems and adverse childhood experience to really gain understanding of the links between the past and their present difficulties; understanding where you have come from, how you learned to survive your childhood experience and how some of this may be holding you back in the present.   

CAT is best for: 

• People who are noticing how their past experiences are affecting them now 
• People with repeating unhelpful pattern of difficulties in relation to others and towards themselves 
• People that have a degree of resilience in order to manage and process emotions 

EMDR is a psychological therapy used to reduce trauma symptoms associated with disturbing life experiences. During EMDR, the individual recalls a traumatic memory in detail whilst the therapist guides the client’s eye movements, usually by using their finger. This results in a reduction of the vividness and emotions that are associated with the memory.

EMDR was created and is primarily used to overcome symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but has also been found to be effective for treating other anxiety disorders where past traumatic experiences are contributing to your current symptoms. A brief introduction to EMDR can be found here. 

Person-centred counselling offers a safe space for individuals to connect with their true self and discover their own abilities and resources to cope with current and future problems. The counsellor will not lead the sessions or give advice, but will sit beside the client and help them to explore any emotional difficulties that they bring to the sessions.  

Person-centred counselling can help individuals to manage emotional difficulties such as low mood, stress, low self-esteem, mild-moderate mental health conditions such as depression, and problems adjusting to a difficult life event such as a bereavement or relationship breakdown. These can include matters from both the past and the present. 

Individuals need to be able and willing to engage with the treatment which can be emotionally demanding, and be able to commit to attending the whole episode of treatment which, within the NHS, is usually 6-8 sessions. Counsellors do not lead the sessions therefore it is helpful if clients arrive with a focus in mind.

Flash is a brief psychological intervention developed as a brief precursor to Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) for individuals who have experienced a disturbing event. Similarly to EMDR, clients recall the disturbing memory whilst focusing on a safe place whilst simultaneously performing small eye movements.  

Flash is a one-off session lasting around 60 minutes within an online group setting. It is a technique to help our brains process a disturbance that you may be struggling with or a troubling event in the recent or more distant past which is getting in the way of you being able to function as you might otherwise, at work or at home.

When we experience disturbing events, we might ruminate, lose sleep, feel anxious etc., and this technique helps the brain to process it, helping to reduce these symptoms. We all have disturbances, maybe daily to some degree, and this is a technique from which every one of us can benefit.

Flash typically can be completed in a single 1-hour session. You will not need to share anything about the recent event you may bring to work on or the effects this is having on you with other group members. You only need to share limited information (levels of disturbance) with the facilitators. The technique does not involve focusing on the disturbing event, so it should not activate distress during the session.

Watch this video to learn more about the Flash offer.

To access Flash, please register to join our next Flash group. Our flash sessions hold on the first Tuesday of every month.

After accessing Flash, if you still need further support, you will be referred to the Here For Each Other enhanced staff wellbeing service, where you will be offered an initial assessment to explore the support options available to you.

A new programme has been launched to help tackle housing shortages for Health and Social Care workers in the South West of England.

The programme matches together people with a spare room to rent with Health and Social Care staff looking for a place to live.

Householders are able to offer accommodation at an affordable price to a fully-vetted member of Health and Social Care staff or Medical Student, who in return will provide companionship and a few hours of help around the home.

Visit our Housing Support page for further information.

Housing Support for Health and Social Care Staff

• Who is this service for?

It’s for any member of staff working in any role for the NHS, the two unitary councils, and the care and volunteer sector in Dorset. It’s designed to complement employers’ existing wellbeing support. If you’ve already explored what your own organisation offers and need more, or you would rather approach external support, we’re here for you.

• I don’t know what I need. Is this the right service for me?

We’re skilled in asking the right questions. Our assessment will identify what you need, and across the team, we can work together to design the best support for you.

• How are you different from what’s already available?

We have a collaborative approach with our partner organisations and are here to complement – not replace – the wellbeing support you can already access from your employer. We also want the service to be flexible and responsive, adding extra capacity and services where we discover there’s a gap or a need.

• What type of support could I get?

It totally depends on the outcome of the initial assessment. We offer a variety of support, ranging from simple advice and guidance through to a bespoke treatment plan, signposting or access to other physical or mental health services. We will talk through the options with you and agree a way forward together.

• Will what I tell you be kept confidential?

Yes – like any NHS service, any information you give us will be held in line with Information Governance.

• Will I have to wait long to get support?

Referrals are monitored and the phone line is staffed 8 am – 4 pm Monday-Friday. We will acknowledge your referral within 72 hours. An initial assessment will take place within seven days of the acknowledgment.

• What experience do the people in the service have?

We have a multi-disciplinary team of experienced staff, with specialists in a variety of fields. We work together, combining our collective expertise and experience in mental and physical health. We like to consider a person’s complete wellbeing – their mental and physical wellbeing are inextricably linked. Find out more about the team.

• What happens when I ring the Hub or submit a referral form?

If you ring the Hub we’ll take your details and talk you through series of questions to understand why you’re calling. That info is passed onto an appropriate clinical member of the team who will call you for assessment.

• If you send a referral form through the website your first contact will be with a clinical member of the team.
• If you refer a colleague through the website a team member will follow up with a phone call before an assessment.
• If you refer a team through the website a team member will follow up with a phone call to the team leader.