Advice and resources for supporting mental wellbeing among the social care workforce

Mental Health Awareness Week is a key time for reflecting on the importance of mental wellbeing and encouraging conversations about mental health. At Skills for Care supporting the mental wellbeing of the adult social care workforce is a key part of what we do.

It’s incredibly important to look after your mental wellbeing when working in the challenging and dynamic world of social care, and for managers to provide relevant support for their team’s mental wellbeing. We offer a range of mental health resources to support those working in adult social care, and we’re also in regular contact with the sector to gain first-hand tips and insights from those on the frontline.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ve rounded up some of our key resources to help support the mental wellbeing of you and your team.

Mental wellbeing advice from the social care sector

Our ‘Wellbeing sector stories’ provide real life insight into how other people in the adult social care sector are looking after the mental wellbeing of both themselves and their teams.

Sally Percival, Chair of the TLAP National Co-production Advisory Group highlights the importance of everyday habits to look after your wellbeing including thinking about your posture and lowering your shoulders, getting creative, and getting outside and into nature – which is in fact the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week.

Clare Cliff, General Manager from Home Instead in Stockport, shared the initiatives which the company have introduced to support staff wellbeing including an employee assistance programme which offers free advice, the recruitment of a training and wellbeing officer who runs wellbeing sessions for the team, and the incorporation of wellbeing questions into formal appraisals – such as checking in with staff about how they switch off and how they deal with challenges.

Anushka Karmali, Development Officer from 360 Degrees Healthcare, discussed the importance of peer support speaking about the ‘staff bubbles’ which have been introduced across the domiciliary service.

The organisation introduced the bubbles at the start of the pandemic to keep staff who were spread out around the country from becoming isolated, and to provide a space to talk about everything from work to family to tips on taking care of their mental wellbeing.

Mental wellbeing resources

At Skills for Care, we provide a multitude of resources to help the social care workforce look after their own mental wellbeing and that of their teams.

In February we launched our ‘Wellbeing resource finder’ which is a great starting point to find the best resources most suited to your needs, from resources specially tailored towards leading for wellbeing to resources for supporting your own mental wellbeing and support in caring for the mental wellbeing of others.

Using the resource finder, you can find a range of different types of resources including handbooks, webinars, podcast, blogs, and more.

Building resilience

Working in adult social care is a rewarding and at times stressful career, and the pandemic has brought a new set of challenges to the role. One of the key factors to being able to work in a high-pressure role is through building resilience, and our resilience guides aim to help those working in adult social care to build their own resilience as well as the resilience of their organisation and team.

Our ‘Building your own resilience health and wellbeing’ guide provides techniques to relax, become more self-aware, and strike a work-life balance.

The ‘Greater resilience - better care’ guide provides social care managers with advice for improving wellbeing and resilience through organisational structure, with tips on how to reduce workplace stress and helping workers to develop resilient behaviours.

Finally, our ‘Developing resilience in practice’ guide includes case studies from other employers focused on how they developed resilience in their team, providing actional examples and templates.

Get involved in Mental Health Awareness Week

You can find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week on the Mental Health Foundation website and join in the discussion on social media using #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.

The theme for this year is nature, so make sure you find some time get outside and enjoy the fresh air and encourage your team to do the same.

You can also find all our information and resources on wellbeing on our website

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