Psychological Staff Wellbeing team

The Psychological Staff Wellbeing team is a small team of Principal and Clinical Psychologists, led by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

How can this team help?

We’re very keen to look into proactive ways to help our staff and Trust.

• We offer individual psychological assessment and therapy via occupational health referral for any mood difficulties that are negatively affecting NHS work. We use a range of approaches in individual therapy for staff including CBT, ACT, EMDR, CFT, and counselling.
• We offer a- hoc bookable 30 minute 1-1 sessions to support staff wellbeing.
• We run regular workshops and training that include topics such as Emotional Wellbeing, Managing Burnout, and Supporting Managers to have Wellbeing Conversations. We continue to develop new topics.
• As a team, we are introducing emotional wellbeing during the induction process as a way of reaching a wide spectrum of staff.
• We provide induction sessions for high-risk clinical areas.
• We respond to teams after traumatic work-related incidents on request to support them as needed.
• Team interventions can be arranged by request - e.g. Team Time - Schwartz, Time to Think, and Psychoeducation sessions.

Why are psychologists an important part of staff wellbeing?

A recent review of evidence by Daniels et al (2022) found that NHS staff are more likely to experience high levels of work-related stress compared with the general working population.

The review indicates that nearly half of staff reportedly feel unwell as a result of work-related stress, sickness absence has increased, and there are high vacancy and turnover rates in some Trusts. Research also shows that patient care can be affected by poor healthcare staff wellbeing.

This suggests that systemic and sustained changes in organisational cultures within the NHS are required. It is therefore important to prioritise staff wellbeing and promote their health on a Trust level. Additionally, it is important that we respond reactively to staff as individuals when needed to support their psychological wellbeing.

Reference
Daniels, K., et. al. (2022). NHS staff wellbeing: Why investing in organisational and management practices makes business sense - A rapid evidence review and economic analysis. London: EPPI Centre, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.