World Mental Health Day

Every year, World Mental Health Day, (WMHD) is an opportunity for staff to reflect on their own mental health in the workplace.

Workplace Health recognises that providing support to staff is often something that can naturally happen in the workplace, despite no formal recognition or responsibility of that role and the function it provides. This group of staff are at ‘elevated risk when repeatedly exposed to others’ distress or personal problems.

Therefore, it is imperative that staff in supporting roles feel equipped and competent to support their community as well as themselves.

As part of the 2024 WMHD campaign, Workplace Health launched the first of a three part training series. This year’s campaign will see the launch of the second of the three trainings - Mental health training for student facing staff. The trainings have been developed in collaboration with various stakeholders across UCL to create and provide meaningful support.

See our progress and plans for the 3rd and final training:

• October 2024: Mental health training for line managers
• October 2025: Mental health training for student facing staff
• Due late 2026: A training aimed at all staff members of UCL, due late 2026 

In addition to this Workplace Health will be:

• Launching the new briefing for line managers ‘Work-related stress: Developing manager competencies.’
• Socialising the launch of the new Employee Assistance Programme provider – Vita Health Group, and all the support and resources that are available to staff through this service.
• Hosting a panel event to discuss support in the workplace and how this is developed and delivered to staff at UCL.

Panel event – Supporting the supporter: delivering support to staff

The event will be chaired by Wellbeing Champion, Associate Professor Pete Fitch, (Teaching), Associate Director UCL HEDS Institute (Faculty Partnership & Programme Enhancement), who will be leading the conversation with the panellists. He will be exploring the challenges and discussing the complexity and demands of these roles, the historical support offerings, and how Workplace Health's latest developments build on these.

Attendees will have the opportunity to submit their questions ahead of the event as well as during.

The panel is as follows:

• Becca Neaves-Cummings, Workplace Wellbeing Manager. Developed the bespoke briefing: Work-related stress: Developing manager competencies’
• Suriyah Rashid, Lead Workplace Wellbeing Coordinator. Developed the bespoke ‘Mental health training for student-facing staff.’ 
• Amber Stevenson, Relationship Manager from Vita Health Group. Discussing the services available to UCL staff through the Employee Assistance Program with greater insight into additional support functions on offer.
• Date: 22 October, Wednesday
• Time: 12-1pm
• Where: Online (Teams)

Register for the panel event

Got a question you want the panel to answer around mental health support at UCL? Ask ahead of time!

Mental health training for student-facing staff

The training will equip staff with the knowledge and practical strategies to support students with mental health and wellbeing concerns while also taking care of themselves. Whether you work in an academic or professional services role, this course is designed to reflect the real situations you may face and help you navigate them with care, clarity, and confidence.

This course is for any member of staff who may have interactions with students including:

• Academic staff with personal academic tutoring or research supervision responsibilities
• Departmental Tutors or equivalent roles
• Teaching and Learning Administrators
• Programme and Module Leads
• Professional services staff in student-facing roles e.g. library staff, security staff

The layout of the training is module based, online and self-paced. It should take no longer than one hour to complete. 

Register for the training

Employee Assistance Programme

On 28 August, UCL changed Employee Assistance Programme provider to Vita Health Group.

Vita Health Group is an experienced provider of wellbeing services, including physiotherapy, which they already deliver to UCL staff, and which has been positively received.

What you can access:

As a staff member at UCL, you have complete and free access to all the resources available through the EAP. Some of the resources are as follows:

• 24/7 Immediate Emotional Support 
• Short Term Structured Counselling**
• Legal & Life Management Information Service 
• Guided Self-Help via a Computerised CBT 
• Debt Management Support 
• Career Coaching 
• Management Support Helpline 
• Digital Health & Wellbeing Platform 

As part of the new offering from Vita Health Group, some of the support listed above can be accessed by immediate family members. Details of this can be found on our webpage.

Please note:

**The short-term counselling offering available through the EAP is intended primarily for low to moderate issues that can be resolved within 6 sessions. A clinical assessment is completed to identify whether this is the most appropriate intervention. In some cases, individuals will exceed the threshold to access the service, in which case the clinician completing the assessment will make recommendations based on your needs.

 Visit the EAP webpage

Work-related stress: Developing manager competencies

This briefing will equip line managers with the knowledge and practical strategies to support staff who are experiencing stress in the workplace. The briefing includes: 

• Identifying different signs of stress in individuals and team environments
• The HSE management standards and your responsibilities as a line manager
• Support available and when to access it
• Practical steps for completing a stress risk assessment
• An opportunity to brainstorm practical actions to reduce stress in the workplace

Register for the Work-related stress: Developing manager competencies