The Civil Service partnered with Samaritans to launch Wellbeing in the City to encourage employees to take care of their emotional wellbeing and learn how to support colleagues who may be struggling.
Prison officers, job centre coaches and marine biologists are just some of the professions that make up the Civil Service. Over 420,000 employees work across 45 departments and 403 agencies and other public bodies, supporting the UK government to implement its policies and laws.
Just a week after launching Wellbeing in the City, a programme developed with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal as part of the This is Me campaign, hundreds of civil servants signed up to the training programme from departments including the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence and HMRC.
Wellbeing in the City has given me the courage to ask someone if they’re okay, listen to what they are saying, and not underestimate the power of silence. It's tempting to solve their problems or share similar experiences to show you understand. Completing this course showed me it's about being there for the other person so they can take control of how they are feeling.
Paul Carter, Cabinet Office
The Civil Service has developed a strong foundation of emotional support for its staff which includes mental health, stress and resilience training, Employee Assistance Programmes and Occupation Health assistance, over 2700 Mental Health First Aiders (or equivalent) and employee networks.
Leaders across the Civil Service are held to account with every Permanent Secretary having a performance objective on supporting mental health with success measured through the cutting edge Civil Service Health and Wellbeing Dashboard.
The Civil Service also held its first mental health conference in June 2018, which shared personal experiences of mental ill health; highlighted best practice support and inspired action on mental health.
We should never underestimate the value of showing concern and care for each other. It is vital that civil servants are able to hold open conversations around mental health, ending the stigma associated with it. This set of interactive videos and information provides tips on how to have sensitive conversations and how to develop active listening skills. These are skills that can be used across our home and work life on a daily basis, as well as in more complex sensitive situations.
Jonathan Jones, Civil Service Health and Wellbeing Champion
You can read Jonathan’s blog here.
Samaritans worked closely with the Civil Service’s HR team to develop a suite of internal communications materials and events to launch the initiative to employees, including an emotional resilience event for staff at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Our civil servants carry out some of the most important roles in our society, often working under pressure to deliver services that we all take for granted, that keep our country running. We are delighted that the Civil Service has recognised the value of our unique learning tools.
Samaritans CEO, Ruth Sutherland
Interested in Wellbeing in the City?
Sign up here