The Sport & Exercise team has been working hard over the past year to implement new training for staff that helps them understand mental health. Lucy Smith is an Active Lives Assistant in Sport & Exercise and has played a key role in sourcing and running this awareness training. She explains more: “The working world has changed for many of us over the past 18 months. Some of our staff are now working from home which has had its challenges, and some were previously furloughed which has also been difficult.
“Just like everyone at Edinburgh Sport, I recognise more now than ever that we must make an effort to keep our wellbeing bucket full,” she continues. “We must ensure we prioritise and set time aside to support our own physical, mental and social health. This has been encouraged hugely throughout the pandemic by our Senior Leadership Team and Line Managers at Sport & Exercise. It has been their key message to all of us.”
In 2019 Lucy undertook Mental Health First Aid Training with Gwen Robertson, a Mental Health Nurse and Trainer for Public Health Scotland and the NHS. When the Active Lives team began to discuss and plan what should be offered to staff, she reached out to Gwen to ask if she could offer any additional support.
A range of courses
So, what does the training involve? Lucy shares more: “Gwen has delivered small interactive, online sessions to our staff via Zoom. These courses offered an overview of mental health issues, highlighting the symptoms and effects. The aim was to provide staff with the tools and resources to help support those in need.
“Thanks to Gwen and to date, 80 of our staff have attended these live half-day sessions. They loved it and found the reflection on mental wellbeing truly valuable, both from a personal and work perspective,” she continues.
“More recently, 12 of our staff team have gone on to train to become Mental Health First Aiders – a more advanced two-day intensive workshop – ready to support our University community as we return to campus working,” Lucy adds. “Both of these programmes have been great, and endorsed fully by our Senior Leadership Team who met the delivery costs as part of our lockdown learning activities.”
Looking after each other
Gerry Crabbe is Indoor Climbing and Risk Manager. He took part in the training earlier in the year and believes it’s an opportunity everyone should get involved with: “I am delighted to see that training is becoming more readily available to support people with regards to mental health, as it highlights how important mental health is to all at the University. When I was offered that opportunity to attend the courses, I jumped at the chance.
“I care about people and believe we should look after each other and, of course, ourselves. I also understand that health is more than just the physical.”
As well as the other mental health courses, Gerry took part in the Mental Health First Aid training. He shares more about his experience: “Along with 11 others, I attended a two-day Mental Health First Aiders workshop, delivered by Gwen. This course was intensive and aimed to improve our awareness of mental health and give advice to us as individuals who are looking to support someone with a mental health condition.
“All courses were great and very valuable in terms of making me feel more confident and better equipped to deal with particular situations should they arise,” he continues. “It has also given me the tools to monitor and manage my own health effectively.”
Prioritising wellbeing
Lucy found that the staff response has been even more positive than they hoped: “I’m very fortunate to be part of a very proactive and enthusiastic team. I couldn’t be more delighted with the upbeat response and engagement from our staff. We’ve received lots of positive feedback throughout which has shown this training has been well received, and on many levels. We also made sure our sessions involved a mix of staff so it proved a great way of reconnecting everyone after such a long time apart.”
Ross Simpson is Assistant Director and Head of Sport. He shares how the entire team are refocusing on safeguarding mental wellbeing throughout their operations: “The Vision for Sport at Edinburgh has a big focus on supporting our student communities to have a great support network. One key success recently is that all 65 sports clubs now have a wellbeing officer who receives training and ongoing support throughout their year, to be able to ensure that clubs are signposting students to the correct support, creating safe environments to be inclusive to all, and to recognise when people need more support. Some funding has been secured to ensure that the training is professionally delivered and that professional support is ongoing. The strategy for Sport includes delivering more workshops around resilience training, and looking at other areas where we can support students more to thrive at the University and really enjoy the community of sport.”
For any teams looking to follow in the footsteps of Sport & Exercise, Lucy can’t recommend Gwen enough: “This could not have happened without the expert knowledge, charisma and energy that Gwen Robertson injects into her training. I had complete faith in her and she was brilliant. She managed to deliver the sessions in a wonderfully applied, engaging and interactive way. This helped dispel the myths and taboos around mental health, and boosted our confidence levels in terms of awareness and understanding. I’d recommend these sessions to anyone with an interest or involvement in mental wellbeing. That’s all of us!”
To find out more about the training you can email Lucy directly.
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