CWP Staff Wellbeing Magazine - August 2022

YOUR WELLBEING

20 pages of wellbeing advice, tips and interviews

Living with long COVID

Healing my back pain

How our staff networks are celebrating equality, diversity and inclusion across the Trust

Plus…

• Let’s talk about the menopause • Are you feeling burnt out?

• How are you spending your wellbeing day?

Creating a great staff experience at CWP

By David Harris, Director of People and Organisational Development We want to kick off this edition of your Staff Wellbeing Magazine with a big thank you to #TeamCWP! Our response rate to the NHS Staff Survey this year was 44%, which means that 2,048 of you (including our bank staff colleagues) shared your views.

The staff survey is an important channel for us to listen to you and understand what’s working well and where we can take proactive steps to improve your experience at work.

Understanding what makes you happy and motivated at work is extremely important to us.

Measuring staff engagement through surveys means that we have insight throughout the year on areas such as how you feel about your job, how involved you feel in improvements and how well we are doing in relation to being a great place to work!

Positively, this year’s results showed that:

70%

of you were happy with the standard of care provided - 6% above the average of similar organisations.

63%

of you would recommend the Trust as a place to work.

Reviewing results in these two areas helps us to further embed good practice so that you are proud to work here and are our advocates for the Trust. Feeling happy about your experience at work is not only good for you, but for people who access our services and members of the community – enabling us to also attract new colleagues to join us in delivering excellent care to the communities we serve.

Your wellbeing matters…

The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is paramount, and we always try to adopt a compassionate approach and prioritise your health and wellbeing.

63%

of you felt the Trust takes positive action on your health and wellbeing

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Based on the feedback we receive, the Trust continually reviews its wellbeing offer. The introduction of a wellbeing day is just one example of where we are supporting you to be your best at work (turn to page 18 to find out more!).

Making meaningful changes If you’re wondering how we use the results of the survey to improve your overall experience at work, care groups and clinical support services have received personalised results packs which will support them (with your help) to create staff experience improvement plans for the year ahead. These plans will be shaped around matters you have raised through the staff surveys and #CWPCares engagement sessions, and have also shaped our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) action plans to improve the experiences of colleagues covered by these protected characteristics.

Colleague engagement Over 100 teams took part in meetings with directors as part of wider #CWPCares ‘Thank You and Listening Events’ to gather views on the here and now (the present challenge) and future opportunities. Liverpool John Moore’s University analysed the feedback and summarised the following themes for the present challenge: • • •

‘Working conditions’ related to the varied demands on colleagues’ time and the changing work environment ‘Management and team support’ included colleagues’ reflections on how people worked together throughout the pandemic ‘Staff recruitment, retention and redeployment’ related to the impact of the pandemic on retaining staff, additional workload and its impact on wellbeing for colleagues and people who access services

The themes colleagues identified as being important for the future were summarised as: • ‘The future of hybrid working’ • ‘Coproduction and joint working’, including colleagues’ reflections on opportunities for better partnership working • ‘Staff Wellbeing vs Professional Responsibility’ relating to the balance needed between dedication to patient care and colleague wellbeing Many of these conversations helped re-build existing relationships that paused during the pandemic or helped forge new relationships. We would like to thank everyone for taking the time to share their views, which will continue to shape our thinking as we implement the new Trust Strategy.

Each of us have a voice that matters, and we encourage you to engage in open and honest conversations and be involved in the staff engagement plans in your area of work. Alongside the NHS Staff Surveys, CWP will also continue to host numerous engagement events this coming year, including more #CWPCares conversations with senior leaders and opportunities to meet our executive team. This means we’ll always be here to listen to you and take your concerns and ideas onboard. By working together and supporting each other, we can all contribute to making CWP a great place to work.

David Harris Director of People and Organisational Development 3

Celebrating a diverse and inclusive workplace At CWP we have three staff networks, which all aim to celebrate and champion equality, diversity and inclusion across the organisation: • • •

Rainbow Tree network – supporting people covered by the ‘sexuality’ protected characteristic Equity and Inclusion Network – supporting people covered by the ‘disability’ protected characteristic Diversity Alliance - supporting people covered by the ‘ethnicity/race’ protected characteristic

Hear from Joe, Ben and Deepak, as they share their own personal stories and how they are championing equality, diversity and inclusion within #TeamCWP. Find out more about our staff networks and how to join them by visiting our intranet page at: bit.ly/staff-networks

By Joe Gavin, Lived Experience Volunteer, Governor and Chair of the Rainbow Tree network “Hi, I’m Joe and my pronouns are he, him and his. As a gay man, I have understood the difficulties lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) people face for a long time, but I want to be inclusive of everyone and I’ve always felt passionate about speaking up for people.

“Personally, I’ve really struggled with my mental health in the past, which has included a number of inpatient stays at various points of my life. With all my experience, despite only being 22, I really want to help others to be their best selves.

“I will always listen to anyone’s concerns and do my best to help with a situation, or signpost you to someone who can help.

I want to help the trust be more diverse, inclusive and equal for everyone, but I can’t do this on my own, so let’s help each other.”

Joe

“Since 2020, I’ve been giving up my time as a lived experience volunteer at CWP and through this, I‘ve been involved in

co-producing training around personality disorders with different professionals.

Ga vin

“I can’t do this on my own – let’s help each other”

Make your pledge Our LGBT+ Network members have done some fantastic work promoting our NHS Rainbow Badge scheme, taking part in Pride events, and have also developed our own Workforce Sexual Orientation Equality Standard to identify how we can work together to improve the experiences of colleagues who identify as being LGBT+.

To sign up for your NHS Rainbow Badge, visit our intranet page at: bit.ly/rainbow-badge-pledge 4

”Being able to laugh at myself has got me a long way in life”

By Ben Adams, Business Support Officer in Wirral and member of the Equity and Inclusion Network

standing up for equality and diversity in the workplace and beyond.

“My best advice? Try to be yourself, as people will accept you for it. Be honest about both the bad and good things about living with a disability. Having a sense of humour and being able to laugh at myself has got me a long way in life.”

“I’m Ben and I have cerebral palsy. It affects my speech and coordination and it’s usually worse when I’m going through stressful periods in my life.

“Growing up, it caused me a lot of frustration but over time, I’ve realised that having cerebral palsy has been my biggest asset in life. It’s given me so much determination, even in the face of adversity.

Be

n

s am d A

“Wanting to overcome the obstacles I face drives me every day and I owe that to many things I’ve achieved. I’ve always been passionate about promoting what we can do, rather than what we can’t do as individuals.

“I know people close to me who have been discriminated against in their jobs. This was a big motivation for me to play an active part in

”Join us in celebrating the contributions of NHS staff from diverse backgrounds”

By Deepak Agnihotri, Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) and Chair of the Diversity Alliance

p nih

ot ri

“We are working tirelessly to improve the sense of belonging for all, so please join us in celebrating the contribution that NHS staff from diverse backgrounds have made in providing outstanding personcentred care here.”

Dee

Ag

“Getting used to living in the UK was the biggest learning curve for me but I’ve found my new home here, working in the

“The purpose of the Diversity Alliance is to support and improve the experiences of colleagues from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Diverse leadership is critical to a thriving NHS and I’ve already used my influence to encourage diversity at all levels of leadership here at CWP. ak

“Hi I’m Deepak. I was born in India, where I completed my physiotherapy degree. It was during a placement that I realised how rewarding it was to help people in need – that value has driven my personal and professional life ever since.

NHS. The NHS is the best organisation I’ve ever seen and it’s amazing how much we value the role of staff from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

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Healing my back pain

By Simon Platt, Head of Organisational Development “My journey managing my lower back pain hasn’t been plain sailing – I’d describe it as somewhat of a rollercoaster - but how I got to where I am today may surprise you.

“I remember feeling increasingly uncomfortable when sitting down back in 2018, and after a month of discomfort I went to see my GP, who referred me onto NHS physiotherapy services.

“I attended my weekly appointments then went home and did my exercises, but to no avail. After several months of physio, I completed my treatment but had nothing to show for it and I was still in a lot of pain.

“My GP referred me on for further diagnostics to try to get to the bottom of it.

I had a range of tests – X-rays, a CAT scan and even a rather unpleasant test called a sigmoidoscopy (I’ll let you Google it!).

I was kind of hoping the tests would show something, so at least I knew what I was dealing with but they all came back clear.

There was no obvious physical cause of my pain.

“This was around the time I joined CWP and I was starting to find my pain was distracting me at work. In a desk-based job, having constant lower back pain when sitting was less than ideal but thankfully the Trust and my manager were supportive and understanding.

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“I was prescribed a stronger opioid-based painkiller by my GP, which helped to mask the pain but left me feeling out of it and hindered my ability to think straight at work.

“My GP had also referred me to a specialist who was now talking about surgery to remove part of my coccyx bone. I was getting desperate but wanted to try every other option before I went down the surgery route.

“My partner had been looking into pain management for me and had stumbled across a book by Dr John Sarno called Healing Back Pain. It had an abundance of five-star reviews from people whose lives had changed after reading it so I decided to give it a go.

“Healing Back Pain looks at how our brains are an intrinsic part of the way we perceive and experience pain, and pain can sometimes be psychosomatic.

“While I was open to the possibility that this could be the case for some people, I didn’t believe it could apply to me. The pain was so severe and constant, it couldn’t possibly be in my head, could it?

“The book described something called tension myositis syndrome, which is the theory that your mind can create pain symptoms to aid the repression of subconscious thoughts and feelings. Willing to give anything a shot at this stage, I started to put the methodologies from the book into practice.

“I started to create positive scenarios and reframe my perception of my own pain and quickly realised I could do far more than I thought I could. It was a real epiphany moment for me.

“I also realised that difficult events in my life around the time the pain started ended up manifesting themselves in the form of physical pain and that I needed to deal with this too, so I sought out some counselling to confront it.

Sim

on Plat t

“The combination of counselling and reframing the way I think about pain has been life changing. My lower back pain is now non-existent, and I’ve got my life back.

“I know physiotherapy can be very effective in managing pain for many people but if you are struggling with back pain and feel like you’ve exhausted all other avenues, it might be worth looking into. If I can help just one other person, it will have been worth sharing my story.”

Follow Simon on Twitter: @NHSplatt or email him at simon.platt3@nhs.net

A physiotherapist’s verdict With CWP’s Deepak Agnihotri “Simon’s story is really interesting and there’s no denying the strong connection between our minds and bodies. There needs to more awareness about the biopsychosocial model of managing lower back pain. These biopsychosocial interventions mainly focus on using cognitive-behavioural approaches to change negative thoughts, emotions, behaviour, work and social factors. I’d encourage anyone who is struggling with chronic back, neck, or shoulder pain to visit their GP or speak to their line manager for a referral to our CWP physiotherapy pathway or workforce wellbeing service to get appropriate support.”

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Are you feeling burnt out?

Top tips for managing stress and burnout If you’ve been struggling with feelings of fatigue and burnout lately, you’re not alone. The pressures of the pandemic have been tough on us all, and for many NHS staff, the stress of the last two years has taken a significant toll on our wellbeing.

Here are some simple ways to reduce stress levels and look after your wellbeing when things get tough.

Practice gratitude

Take time to think about the good things in your life. Even on the more difficult days, try to list three things you’re thankful for in your life, and try to think of at least one good thing that happened that day.

Be more active

Being active won’t make your stress disappear overnight, but it can make it less intense and help to reduce stress levels over time. Even walking outside in the fresh air is a great way to reduce stress and clear your head.

Take time for you

wellbeing day – your additional day of paid leave for all #TeamCWP staff this year (read more about this on page 18).

Talk to someone

Talking to trusted friends, family and colleagues can help us when we’re struggling.

If you’re struggling with ongoing feelings of stress or burnout, don’t suffer in silence - the Cheshire and Merseyside Resilience Hub is here to help. The Resilience Hub ensures all NHS and social care staff within the region have access to the right support through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

It’s important to give yourself time to rest and relax. Make sure you are booking in your annual leave to recharge your batteries, and don’t forget to book in your

Scan the QR code to self-refer for psychological support or visit: www.cheshiremerseyresiliencehub.nhs.uk

You can also self-refer into CWP’s Workforce Wellbeing Service for support by emailing cwp.staffsupportcwp@nhs.net or on 01244 397 676.

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Top tips for improving your sleep Many of us will be familiar with restless nights where it seems to take an eternity to get to sleep.

For some people, these sleepless nights can become a frequent occurrence and lack of quality sleep can have a real impact on our wellbeing and make daily life difficult. If you regularly have problems sleeping, you may be experiencing insomnia but there are things you can do to improve your sleep.

Keep regular sleep hours

Going to bed when you feel tired and getting up at roughly the same time helps teach your body to sleep better. Try to avoid napping during the day where possible.

Write down your worries

If you often lie awake worrying, set aside time before bed to make a to-do list for the next day.

It can help to put your mind at rest.

pillow, putting it in a plastic bag and popping it in the freezer for 10 minutes before bed.

Put down the pick-me-ups

Many of us rely on caffeine to stay alert during the day but having too much can stop us from falling asleep easily. Try to reduce the amount you consume and avoid it in the evenings.

Move more, sleep better

Being active can help you sleep better and doing more activity during the day usually means you’ll be more tired at bedtime. Just avoid vigorous activity near bedtime if it affects your sleep.

Create a cool, restful environment

Dark, quiet and cool environments generally make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. On particularly warm days, try bunching up your

Relax your mind at bedtime with Headspace Did you know that NHS staff can access Headspace Plus at no cost?

As well as gaining access to the app’s meditation and mindfulness courses, you can also access content to help improve your sleep.

Instructions on how to sign-up for free can be found at: www.headspace.com/nhs 9

Why I quit smoking for good

By Stuart Robertson, Senior Communications and Marketing Officer “Quitting smoking is the best thing I’ve ever done. It was also one of the hardest. But two years since my last cigarette, I guess I’m doing well.

“My name is Stuart, I’m 32, and I’ve worked in the communications team here at CWP for the past five years. This is my story.

“At the time of quitting, I was a 20 cigarettea-day smoker. The kind I’d always told myself I would never become. If you asked me when and where my first cigarette was, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I was definitely 16 – I know that much.

“When I turned 30, I made a decision. I wasn’t going to be a smoker when I was 40.

Was it for health reasons? Not really if I’m honest. I’d worked out I was spending north of £3,000 a year on cigarettes. Plus I just didn’t like the feeling of being addicted to something anymore.

“I’d tried a couple of things half-heartedly.

Gum was first and then patches soon followed. But neither sustained me enough to truly work. E-cigarettes came and went but I found all that achieved was transferring my nicotine addiction to something else.

“I then found out that you could get medication to help you quit. Through searching online, I also heard that peer support was invaluable. I contacted my local stop smoking service and was assigned a peer support worker. In the middle week of February 2020, I would have my last cigarette.

“Then, the world imploded. The COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest only a couple of weeks later. My peer support sessions ended. I was going it alone and during truly unprecedented and very stressful times.

“The 12 weeks I was on medication were among the hardest weeks of my life. I experienced withdrawal in a big way, and through the medication, I experienced depression like I’d never felt before. But I found a few things that helped me along the way.

“Firstly, a water bottle. It sounds simplistic but it really helped. The aim is to replicate the inhaling of air and the act of sucking on a cigarette. Plus, it also gets you to drink more water!

“Secondly, stay mentally active. The times when I experienced cravings the most is when I was bored. Find things to occupy your mind that you enjoy. For me, I got into sudoku puzzles, video games, listening to podcasts and cooking.

Did you know…?

If you can make it to 28 days smoke-free, you’re 5 times more likely to quit for good!

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“Thirdly, block out the negativity. Most people I knew were smokers too and they didn’t think it was possible to quit, but I also had friends who gave encouragement (yes, they were the nonsmokers!). You have to believe in yourself, so listen to the people who believe in you too.

“This brings me onto my final point of how much others can help. In the working world, it’s so important to have the support of your line manager. It can get difficult and we spend so much time in the workplace, so there needs to be understanding of what you’re trying to do.

“My manager was great. If I ever needed to talk she would make herself available and she more than made up for the peer support sessions ending. Without her support I wouldn’t have been able to quit.

“I don’t think you ever fully kick the addiction, but the cravings definitely decrease over time.

I don’t get cravings much these days, only as a passing thought. I’ve replaced the need-to-have with nice-to-have and it’s a very good feeling.

“Good luck to anyone who is trying to quit or thinking of quitting. It’ll be hard but I promise you won’t look back.”

Stua rt

Ro b er t s

on

Get help quitting with Better Health’s Quit Smoking app!

Get help quitting with Better Health’s Quit Smoking app!

The NHS Quit Smoking app allows you to, track your progress, see how much you’re saving and get daily support. Download Quit Smoking on the App Store or Google Play.

You can also scan the QR code below for more advice on quitting smoking.

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Living with long COVID Collette Ledsom shares her story Over the last two years, COVID-19 has affected different people in different ways, with varying levels of symptoms and severity.

While many of us will recover quickly without any lasting symptoms, for some people the effects of COVID can last many weeks or even months.

Even those who initially had a mild case of the virus can experience lingering symptoms.

But for those who are seriously affected by the virus, recovery can be a slow and difficult journey.

Collette Ledsom, a nurse from our Ellesmere Port Learning Disabilities Team, ended up in intensive care with COVID-19 in 2020. While she is still recovering from the virus 15 months on, thanks to a positive mindset and pushing herself to do a bit more each day, she’s improving all the time.

Here, she shares her story.

“I tested positive for COVID in December 2020. For the first few days I felt really rough, with a raging temperature but by day eight, my cough was really bad and I was struggling to breathe. I was monitoring my oxygen saturations daily and they were down to 90%.

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“I was in regular contact with NHS 111 and they told me I needed to go to hospital, so I went to A&E and was admitted to one of the wards. I felt so poorly and couldn’t lie down comfortably as I was struggling to breathe so much. When my oxygen saturation levels dropped as low as 80%, they moved me to intensive care.

“It was a really scary and lonely experience.

The doctors and nurses were in full PPE, so I couldn’t even see the faces of the people who were looking after me. As a caregiver by profession, it was really disconcerting being at the receiving end of care. I hated feeling so helpless and out of control.

“After being offered a range of experimental treatments as part of the national COVID-19 drug trials and being on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for a week, I slowly started to improve and was moved back to one of the general wards. It was still really tough as I had no appetite and everything tasted metallic, so I was struggling to eat and had zero energy.

“I’m a member of Chester Ladies’ Choir so I was using my time to practice some of the breathing exercises we use for singing. I was in my hospital room singing ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ at the top of my lungs!

“Once my oxygen levels were back up to safe levels, I was finally discharged and was able to go home on 6 January 2021.

Long road to recovery “The first few days at home were really tough. I was told by the physiotherapist I saw in hospital to avoid going upstairs at first, but I was desperate to have a shower.

“Determined to push myself, I took it very slowly. It took me several hours to get upstairs and have a shower but I did it.

“Over the next few weeks, I started to push myself a little bit more each day. I was determined to make it to my local shop and back. I knew I couldn’t do it in one go, so I did a little bit each day.

“The first day I only made it to the end of our drive, then the end of the neighbours’ drive, then the bottom of the road. Finally, I was able to walk to the shops. It took me over an hour but my determination saw me through.

“I owe a large part of my recovery to the support I received. I accessed physiotherapy and counselling through CWP’s Workforce Wellbeing Service. I was having regular flashbacks of my time in intensive care, so I found it helpful having someone to talk to.

“My physiotherapist was great too and told me about the ‘boom and bust’ state I would be in for some time. This means you can be feeling well, so you push yourself that bit too far and end up having a setback.

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“My advice to anyone struggling with long COVID symptoms is to gradually push yourself, little by little and not push yourself too far in one go. The fatigue has been one of the toughest aspects of my recovery and something I still struggle with today.

“I think mindset is such an important part of recovery from long COVID. It’s hard but focusing on what I can do, rather than what I can’t do has helped me get through it.

“I returned to work two days a week in March and I’m finding it a good balance.

Throughout the experience, my whole team has been so supportive but I have to say a special thank you to Sarah Thomas, one of our clinical leads, who has been an absolute star.”

Help is at hand If you’ve been experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 for more than 12 weeks after your initial infection, speak to your GP, who will be able to signpost you to support available.

At CWP, we also have a peer support group for staff experiencing long COVID symptoms, which meets every six weeks. If you’re interested in joining, email Collette at collette.ledsom@nhs.net.

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Is alcohol affecting your mental health?

If you drink alcohol, you may be all too familiar with that awful feeling when waking up after a night of heavy drinking.

The evening at the pub with friends may have been fun but the waves of nausea, spinning room and banging headache the next day are not.

It’s well-known how bad regular binge drinking can be for our physical health but the effect alcohol can have on our mental health is causing a growing number of people to turn their backs on it for good.

According to Drink Aware, as your body processes alcohol, the sedative effects wear off. You can begin to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms, such as feeling depressed or anxious and many people feel like this the morning after drinking alcohol.

You might also find yourself worrying about what you said or did the night before or waking in the middle of night as the alcohol wears off feeling anxious and stressed.

The lockdown effect Studies have shown that many people’s drinking habits changed during lockdown.

For some, increased stress, coupled with the boredom of being stuck at home, led to them turning to drink in the evenings to ‘relax’.

Others cut down significantly or stopped drinking altogether.

During lockdown, CWP Communications Manager Sophie Ellis took the opportunity to reassess her own drinking habits.

“I realised that while I was enjoying sharing a bottle of wine with my partner in the evenings, the next day I would wake up

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Hangxiety / hang–zy–eh–tee / noun The feeling of guilt, stress and worry after a night of drinking alcohol

feeling anxious, even if I hadn’t gone over the top,” she says. “Like many people, my anxiety during the pandemic increased, and drinking was making it even worse. It took for me to stop drinking altogether for several months, after doing Dry January in 2021, to realise the effect it was having on my mental health.”

The benefits of giving up alcohol are endless. Better sleep, more energy, better concentration, and reduced anxiety, to name just a few. But drinking is such an ingrained part of our culture, and with pretty much every social occasion centred around alcohol – birthdays, weddings, christenings and even funerals – it may seem too daunting to go tee total.

“I do drink occasionally now but I’m very careful about how much I drink,” says Sophie.

“I rarely drink at home – I save it for special occasions and it’s really helped my mental health. Waking up on a Sunday morning feeling refreshed is a great feeling. I don’t waste my weekends in bed with a hangover anymore.”

Using alcohol to cope with difficult emotions is common and while it may seem like a good idea at the time, there are much better ways to manage these feelings that don’t have a negative impact on your mental health.

Some people use alcohol to relax or even to self-medicate for mental health problems like anxiety. In reality, although alcohol can have a calming effect while you’re drinking it, as soon as it wears off it has the opposite effect. This can lead to people repeating the cycle to reduce their post-alcohol anxiety or low wood, and this type of drinking can become very problematic.

Although we’re now moving towards living with COVID and we’re getting out and about much more, you may find your pandemic drinking habits have stuck. If you’re drinking more than you used to, or you want to cut down or stop drinking altogether, Drink Aware has some helpful resources.

Scan the QR code below to access these.

If you’re worried about your own drinking or the drinking or someone you care about, you can contact the Drinkline national helpline on 0300 123 1110.

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Let’s talk about the menopause We’ve all heard of the menopause but do we talk about it enough, and is there a wide enough understanding of how it affects women?

Unless you’ve been through it yourself, it may not be something you’ve given much thought to, but the menopause can have a significant impact on our quality of life and overall wellbeing.

Simply put, the menopause is when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally. However, this change can also bring with it some very challenging symptoms. From hot flushes and night sweats to anxiety and reduced sex drive, the menopause can wreak havoc with our bodies and minds.

In the UK, the average age for a woman to reach the menopause is 51 but it usually occurs anywhere between the age of 45 and 55. Some women can experience menopause much younger than this, either naturally or as a side effect of some medications or treatments. The period leading up to the menopause (known as the perimenopause) is often when the challenging symptoms begin for many women. The menopause is a natural part of ageing but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with debilitating symptoms and suffer in silence.

Supporting someone through the menopause If someone you know is going through the menopause - whether that’s a partner, family member, friend or colleague - it can be hard to know how to help, especially if you haven’t experienced it yourself.

The best way to be supportive is to pay attention, ask open questions and acknowledge the challenges.

Everyone’s experience of the menopause will be different so don’t make assumptions but let them know you’re there to listen and support them.

Getting informed is another important step and will help you to understand what they might be going through. Learning the symptoms associated with the menopause is a good place to start, as well as the impact these symptoms can have and the treatments available to manage them.

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Relationships and the menopause It’s common for the menopause to have an impact on relationships with spouses or partners.

Women can experience a reduced sex drive (libido) due to the hormonal changes that happen during menopause, as well as vaginal dryness and painful sex. They may find they no longer want to have sex, which can be upsetting for both partners.

Treatment options are available to help manage these symptoms but if you’re a partner of someone struggling with this, it’s just as important to ask them how they are feeling and be understanding. Talking about different ways to feel close to each other and spending time together more generally is also important during this time.

Menopause and the workplace Many women find managing symptoms of the menopause at work very challenging, especially as it can be difficult to talk openly about it with colleagues.

It is important that women feel supported so to continue working throughout the menopause and able to speak about the challenges they are facing. By making small changes, managers can help ensure the workplace is a supportive and welcoming place for women going through the menopause.

At CWP, we are currently refreshing our menopause policy and guidelines to support staff experiencing menopausal symptoms in the workplace, as well as providing managers with the tools and guidance they need to support any staff in their teams who may be going through the menopause.

We are also planning to set up support groups for staff going through the menopause, as well as training and support for partners and family members, so watch this space.

For more information, contact CWP’s Workforce Wellbeing service at cwp.staffsupportcwp@nhs.net

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How are you spending your wellbeing day?

This year, #TeamCWP colleagues will be able to take an additional day’s paid leave as a thank you for all the efforts everyone has gone to during the pandemic and to support our wellbeing.

No two wellbeing days will be the same and it’s completely up to you how you spend it. For some it

might be a duvet day watching Netflix or a spa day to totally relax and unwind. For others it might be gardening, a long walk or a trip to the beach.

We asked what you were planning for your wellbeing day and we were really inspired by your ideas! Here are some of our favourites.

“I’m going to travel to the seaside so I can watch the waves and relax. I grew up by the sea and find it very relaxing.”

“I’ll be binge watching my favourite movies for the day!”

Julie, Community Care Therapies Team

Angie, Ellesmore Port West Community Care Team

“Getting out in a green or blue space. I very recently got introduced to Wim Hof’s breathing exercises and ice baths and have found an amazing place where I can do this in a local lake with similar brave folk! So that’s where I’ll be heading.”

Simon Platt, Organisational Development Team

“For me it will be getting out in the fresh air with my camera.”

Ann Marie Taylor, Assistant Practitioner

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“Defrosting some of the cakes and cookies I make on rainy weekends and then finding some sunshine in my campervan to scoff them. Happy belly, happy mind.”

Martyn Hockless, Informatics

“Spending time with this fluffy one on top of a mountain when the weather is nice.”

Carmel Hopkins, Human Resources

“I’ll be sitting around a campfire with my camping family.”

Lindsay Ashton, First Contact Advanced Practitioner

“Spending mine with these two, walking and having a pub lunch in the sunshine would be lovely.”

Amanda Bray Community Learning Disability Nurse

To find out how to use your wellbeing day, scan the QR code.

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You have the freedom to speak up #F2SU It’s important that #TeamCWP colleagues feel confident and empowered to raise any concerns and we believe in developing a culture of openness and transparency.

This is more than whistleblowing. It is our collective responsibility to ensure the best care for our patients and you should feel supported to speak up if you see something that isn’t right.

At CWP, our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians are our Associate Directors of Nursing and Therapies - Satwinder Lotay and Joanne Inman.

Raising a concern You can raise a concern by emailing cwp.raising.concerns@nhs.net or by phoning 01244 397 377.

You can also view our HR3:8 How to raise and escalate concerns within work policy for further guidance.

Supporting you to age well at work This summer, we are launching mid and later life transition workshops. The workshops aim to support #TeamCWP colleagues in mid to later life to feel better supported in managing change and transition, so you can continue living life to the full.

Facilitated by a senior therapist, the sessions will provide a space to reflect on your life and develop strategies to plan for the future. With a mix of individual tasks and group discussions, you will also have the chance to connect with others.

The course will support you by focusing on: • • •

Your wellbeing – helping you stay physically and mentally healthy Your retention – supporting you to have the flexibility to remain in the workplace, if you wish to Your succession - to ensure your expertise and experience are not lost so they are passed on when you do retire

If you’re interested, email cwp.staffsupportcwp@nhs.net or call 01244 397 676.

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