mental health

Improving the management and wellbeing of political staffers:insights from Prime Minister’s Advisers in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

Standard

A Wellness Working Group online event.

Presenter: Dr Jennifer Lees-Marshment University of Auckland, New Zealand
Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Date: Thursday 8 June 2023
Location: Online via Teams

This presentation will present suggestions for how to improve the management and wellbeing of political staffers, drawing on research conducted in 2022-23 through interviews with political practitioners, including 66 advisers for Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern.

It will discuss best practice recommendations made by experienced staffers who have worked in Prime Ministerial offices in Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand. These include clearer orientation, more relevant and ongoing training, as well as training of those involved in managing, effective and positive feedback to create and office culture, and the use of tools to constrain workloads, maintain motivation and support wellbeing.

This will be of interest to existing staffers, prospective special advisers, and anyone who may aspire to, or find themselves in the position of managing other staffers/colleagues.

To receive an invitation to the event, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

Managing Workplace Stress for MPs Staff – new training course

Standard

A brand new training course from the Members’ Services Team.

The first presentation will be on Tuesday 13 June 2023.

For further information and booking, please visit https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=2059 (parliamentary network account required)

Course Overview

  • Learn how to recognize the symptoms and triggers of stress in the workplace. 
  • Learning coping strategies and self-care techniques for dealing with stress. 
  • Learn how to support co-workers who are under stress. 
  • Learn techniques to manage pressure and improve resilience to stress. 
  • Learn how to set boundaries in the workplace. (E.g. how to communicate when your workload is too high to take anything else on, how to communicate you need a break after a stressful interaction) 
  • Learn how to access available support services.

Wellness Working Group – Clarke Carlisle (ex-England Footballer & Pundit)

Standard

Time: 10:00 – 11:00
Date: Tuesday 9 May 2023
Location: Online via Teams

Clarke Carlisle will join the Wellness Working Group to talk about mental health and his journey.

Not only is Clarke a pundit on shows such as Match of the Day, Sky Sport and ITV Sport, he has appeared on Question Time and presented documentaries about racism and suicide in football.  Clark is also an ambassador for the Kick It Out scheme, which campaigns for inclusion and equality in football.  He is also currently on the Management Committee of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

If you would like to join this talk, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk for a link

ParliGender Event: Menopause Awareness in the Workplace with Caroline Nokes MP

Standard

Time: 12:30 – 13:30
Date: Tuesday 18 April 2023
Location: Online via Teams

Caroline Nokes is a Member of Parliament (Romsey and Southampton North) and is the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee which has recently published a report on menopause and the workplace. The report noted that too many people experiencing menopause have struggled with societal stigma, inadequate diagnosis and treatment, workplace detriment and discrimination, and that whilst things are changing there is still a long way to go. Her talk will reflect on the report’s findings.

For further information, please email parligender@parliament.uk

Domestic Abuse Awareness

Standard

All MP’s Staff Q&A Session

Time: 10:00 – 11:00
Date: Thursday 2 February 2023
Location: Online via MS Teams
Booking: https://parliament.learningpool.com/mod/facetoface/view.php?id=5505

We are delighted to welcome Natasha Saunders who will be joining us for our February All Staff Q&A Session.

Natasha is a law changer, conversation starter and motivational speaker but it hasn’t always been that way. After 8 years of a wide range of Domestic Abuse, she has become the voice she needed to hear when she was trapped. Domestic Abuse is everyone’s problem and she invites you to hear her lived experience and how you can not only support those around you but possibly save a life too.

If you have any questions about this session please contact MST@parliament.uk

Stress Management, Promoting Wellbeing & Work-Life Balance

Standard

With Ollie Welsby, Trainer, Brightcore Consultancy
Wednesday 5th October 2022, 11.30am – 12.30pm
Online via Teams

Please join this Wellness Working Group session to gain insight from Ollie as to how to manage our own stress as well as looking at managing our wellbeing in the short and long term.

Ollie will help us understand the biology of stress and how we can identify this in ourselves and others. He will also provide us with coping strategies and how to maintain a work life balance.

To book, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

Wellbeing – looking after yourself and others

Standard

Caseworker Discussion Forum hosted by the Commons Library

The Library, in conjunction with the Members’ Services Team, is pleased to invite you to the Casework Discussion Forum which will take place virtually each month.

The next session is taking place on Thursday 18 August, 9:30-10:30am and will be on the topic of Wellbeing – looking after yourself and others. It will be chaired by Wendy Wilson from the Library.

The Forum will be complemented by a dedicated Teams chat which will allow you to share ideas and best practice, as well as support being on hand from the Library should specialist knowledge be required.

(Please note, you do not have to be a Caseworker to attend these sessions, they are open to any Members’ staff who handle casework.) 

If you have any questions, please contact MST@parliament.uk

Professor Chris Williams Helping you – and your constituents Live Life to the Full

Standard

Thursday 26th May – 10am – 11am

Living life to the Full (LLTTF) is one of the UK’s most popular wellbeing resources, and is widely recommended in health, social care and charity settings. A free access site at www.llttf.com provides online wellbeing skills, and courses to help those living with stress and low mood,  long-term physical health problems including long-covid, new parents and others. It helps people to understand their feelings, and learn key life skills based on the popular and evidence-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approach.

Award-winning author Professor Chris Williams, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow, and twice past-President of BABCP – the lead body for CBT in the UK,  will give an overview of the resources, and how they can be used to support your constituents, your families, friends and ourselves.  Dr Williams is also Director of Five Areas Ltd which has developed a range of widely recommended wellbeing resources. He is an award-winning author and his books, classes and websites are widely used in the UK, Ireland, and North America. The free-access www.llttf.com life skills course is the most recommended CBT product in NHS England IAPT services and mental health trusts (Bennion et al, 2017 BMJ Open). His work has been translated into Somali, French, Chinese, Italian, Urdu, Ukrainian and Romanian, as well as six other languages.  Contact details for Professor Williams are below.

To register for the meeting, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

Mental Health First Aid drop-in session for Members and Members’ staff

Standard

Please note that links to the old Parliamentary intranet have been removed as of October 2023. Please use search on ParliNet to find relevant current details, if available.

https://parlinet.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-members-staff/

Do you know how to support your own mental health and that of your team? Have you seen an increase in the number of constituents and colleagues who are presenting with mental health concerns and would you know where to signpost them if you needed to?

Organised by Tracey Crouch MP and the Members’ Services Team, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England will be hosting a taster morning in Attlee Suite from 9am-1pm on 19 May 2022 to explore what you need to support yours and others’ mental health and wellbeing.

See here for full details.