WWG

British Liver Trust

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A Wellness Working Group event

Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Date: Monday 16 October 2023
Location: Online

Please join us to hear the British Liver Trust talk about the work they do, the huge rise in liver disease and liver cancer and the crisis in access to services. We will also learn about the risk factors of liver disease for ourselves, our family and our constituents.

The British Liver trust provide vital advice to help people improve their liver health. They provide the public and patients with up to date information and support, including a free nurse-led helpline and online community, as well as delivering awareness campaigns such as the Love Your Liver Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of the major risk factors that can cause liver damage and encourage those who are at risk to get tested. It includes:

  • a free online screener that assesses whether you are at risk of liver disease and provides information on what to do if you are
  • a year round awareness campaign with the media and through promotional displays
  • Love Your Liver community screening events held in association with local liver clinicians around the UK

Estelle, Tom & Lisa

The Wellness Working Group

rsvp to mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

Love Your Liver

Wellness Working Group August Blog Post

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The Wellness Working Group (WWG) will be publishing a monthly blog, written by Committee Member, Lisa Young, who not only works for an MP but is a trained counsellor. They hope that by publishing this blog, you might find some comfort as well as practical tips to help you through a difficult situation.

You can find the blog on the parliamentary intranet here: https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-wellbeinghub/SitePages/WWG-Blog.aspx

The August 2023 post relates to receiving calls from people who are struggling to cope, and contains a link to a useful template to guide you through such a call.

Virtual Talk: Andy’s Man Club

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The Wellness Working Group‘s next guest speaker will be Oli Vikse from Andy’s Man Club.

Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Date: Thursday 29 June 2023
Location: Online via Teams

Oli Vikse – Project Development Champion, Andy Man Club

Please join us to hear Oli talk about ANDY’S MAN CLUB

Andy’s Man Club has over 120 free support groups nationwide, running every Monday from 7PM except bank holidays. In these groups, men can open up about the storms affecting their lives in a safe, judgement-free and non-clinical environment. The clubs are designed to be free of pressure, there is no obligation for men to speak, they can simply listen if they wish. With over 2800 men using the sessions every week, and an army of 900+ volunteers on board, the movement is continuing to grow week-by-week. Andy’s Man Club firmly believe in the power of talking and that #ItsOkayToTalk.

Financial Wellbeing – a talk by the Money and Pension service (MaPS)

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Financial Wellbeing: a talk by Victoria Copeland, Regional Partnerships Manager, Money and Pension service (MaPS)

Time: 14:30 – 15:30
Date: Thursday 16 March 2023
Location: Online via Teams

The Money and Pension Service is working to improve financial outcomes for everyone living and working in the UK. Through our MoneyHelper service we offer free impartial information guidance and support for all kinds of money questions from pocket money to pensions.

As a regional manager Victoria works with a variety of organisations including local government, financial services, employers, charities and advice providers to support their financial wellbeing strategies for residents, customers, staff, members and service users.

Victoria has been with MaPS for three years. Prior to working for this statutory body I worked in business development in the commercial sector including in my own business, in publishing and logistics. I bring thirty years lived experience to the role as well as a keen interest in supporting financial wellbeing in a workplace setting.

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

Stress Management, Promoting Wellbeing & Work-Life Balance

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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

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

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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

Advantages of a Caring Culture – Kirstie Hawton, Octopus Group

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Time: 10:00
Date: Friday 1 October 2021
Where: MS Teams

Kirstie has revolutionised the culture at Octopus by putting employees wellbeing, mental health and gratitude at the forefront of everything they do.  

Come along to hear how Kirstie made this change and to get some tips on how we can look after ourselves, our colleagues and our offices during these particularly troubling times.

Please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk to register

Wellness Working Group Virtual meeting: Kooth, Mental Health Support for Children and Young People

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Wellness Working Group Online Event

Kooth.com, Mental Health Support for Children and Young People
Time: 11am – 12pm
Date: Friday 16 April 2021

Dr. Lynne Green, Consultant Psychologist and Chief Clinical Officer and Gareth Evans, Director of Accounts and Engagement for Kooth will cover what Kooth is for children and young people, how to talk to parents about Kooth, how to access their services and discuss some case studies on the work they do with children and young people.

1 in 5 children and young people suffer from mental health illness in any given year. Kooth.com is commissioned by the NHS and Local Authorities to provide anonymous and personalised mental health support for children and young people, providing end to end support whatever the need.

To join this meeting, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk

As always, please feel free to share this event with your colleagues and encourage them to join the Group.

Coping with Infertility whilst working in Parliament – Wellness Working Group Virtual Meeting

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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/

Coping with Infertility whilst working in Parliament

Wellness Working Group Virtual Meeting

Anya Sizer from David Lammy’s Office has very kindly volunteered to be a guest speaker at our next virtual meeting.

Not only is Anya a busy parliamentary colleague but she is also the Regional Co-ordinator for the Fertility Network UK and has over fourteen years of experience within the Fertility sector, including seven overseeing patient care at the London Women’s clinic Harley street.
She is often in the media as a champion for the patient perspective on facing Infertility and is currently busy lobbying MPs and speaking in Parliament regarding Fair provision of IVF for all. She has worked for three MPs and is currently Parliamentary Assistant for David Lammy MP.
She has two children from IVF one from adoption and is a Champion for both the Saying Good bye and Home for good charities.
Please send any advance questions to either ourselves or directly to Anya.   If you wish to remain anonymous, please indicate this.
To sign up for this meeting, please email mpsstaff-wwg@parliament.uk