breathe - Dec 2021 by govjsy

breathe

DEC 21 FIRST EDITION

Bounce Back and Thrive by Cheryl Power, page 3 Get the most out of your Employee Assistance Programme, page 2

How to Look after your financial wellbeing with Lloyds Bank, page 8

hello from the wellbeing team! Are you looking for ways to improve your health and wellbeing? Would you like to find out what services are available to you as a Jersey Public Service employee? Look no further... we’ll be bringing you this every month in your wellbeing magazine. You’ll also hear from colleagues across the organisation on what wellbeing means to them. This month we’d like to highlight our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). This is something that we provide for everyone who works in Jersey Public Service, and is delivered by our Occupational Health Providers, AXA. Get to know how your EAP works by watching this video. Access 24/7 support as often as you’d like, with fully trained and qualified team members. Your call is completely

confidential and the team will help you to get the right support for your situation. In addition to this, you have access to BeSupported. BeSupported is an online resource that can support your physical and mental health with a host of tips, articles, expert insights and interactive health tools. Username: governmentofjersey Password: supported We’ve launched an information pack where you can find details on other services and resources to promote your health and wellbeing. We’ll be highlighting these in Breathe each month, so keep reading to see how you can benefit from your corporate wellbeing offering.

Contact us Olivia Gill, Wellbeing Consultant E: o.gill@gov.je T: 01534 440248 Luana Esteves, Wellbeing Assistant E: l.esteves@gov.je Ben Williams, AXA Physiologist E: b.williams2@gov.je

Bounce Back and Thrive Cheryl Power

CHIEF OF ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONS, HEAD OF WELLBEING HEALTH & COMMUNITY SERVICES

Respond. Recover. Thrive. If ever there were a time to look after yourself, to look after each other and to look forward, that time is now. The last 21 months are likely to have had an impact on all of you in some way, whether this is a positive impact or one that has negatively challenged you. We know during and after a natural disaster, people typically experience loss, creating various health, social and economic vulnerabilities. This pandemic, however, appears to have hit us in a much more profound way. It was unexpected, it was unpredictable in nature, it was large in scale, it disrupted our support networks and our day-to-day functioning, it challenged our economic and health systems and it created a very big and real threat to all our lives and the people that we care about. During the time we have been responding to COVID-19, I’ve led the wellbeing programme for our Health and Community Services staff. At the start of this journey, I remember taking a deep breath and thinking: ‘how do you look after the people who look after the people’? Wherever you sit within the Jersey Public Service, whether you’re a health worker, administrator, planning officer, teacher

or indeed anyone else, I’m sure you’ve collectively witnessed the same experience over the last 21 months - supporting people who are facing a big threat in their lives, when you’re facing that very same threat yourselves, is difficult. Although we can’t forget what this journey has brought us, it’s now more important than ever to look forward, understand what we need to recover, and thrive. Restoring resilience in ourselves is key to our recovery, but reconnecting teams and rebuilding team and organisational resilience is crucial. Take time out to notice what you need to restore, whether it’s for you personally or with your other colleagues, family and friends. Over the last few months, HCS has been delivering a ‘Bounce Back and Thrive’ programme to help staff reflect and enable staff to focus on taking care of themselves and rebuilding resilience within their teams. Whether it’s focusing on your sleep routine, learning to live with uncertainty or becoming better able to manage emotions. Make sure you take time to bounce back and thrive wherever you are.

Wellbeing… Jhen Pingol

SENIOR STAFF NURSE,

ONCOLOGY HEALTH & COMMUNITY SERVICES

Embracing my profession as a Cancer Care Nurse has given me real purpose in my life since 1997. A key aspect of my job is supporting patients when they receive bad news or are experiencing some of the most unpleasant side effects to their treatments. That’s why it’s so important to deliver the care I provide with the utmost compassion, empathy, and professionalism. To be able to do this, I need to look after my own health, comfort, and happiness. Because I truly believe that if I embody these three things in my everyday life, I’ll be able to impart them to the patients I look after – helping them to have a positive outlook towards their cancer care journey.

Callum O’Connor RESPONSE INSPECTOR

STATES OF JERSEY POLICE JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS

Life can be fairly hectic sometimes, with our own demands and personal stresses to deal with. It’s so important to ‘checkout’ each day, even if it’s just for a few moments. Do some exercise, go for a walk, or even read a book. Remember to check in with your friends, the one you haven’t seen on social media recently, or the one who hasn’t been so active in your group chats. A simple text can change their day, and yours. For me, my release is exercise. Being in the Police can often be highly demanding and can sometimes get on top of you. I’ve recently started cycling to and from work, using that time to de-compress on the way home. This has really helped me clear my thoughts and process what’s happened that day.

What this means to us

Cameron Davis Luana Esteves WELLBEING ASSISTANT

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT PEOPLE & CORPORATE SERVICES

Wellbeing is important to me and the opportunity to work in the Wellbeing Team allows me to use my interest and passion to shine a light and encourage the organisation to invest time into developing a state of good wellbeing. The team is fairly new but already have lots of exciting ideas for 2022 and I’m eager to work with departments across the organisation to share what we offer corporately, but also to encourage departments and teams to develop bespoke wellbeing plans to suit each area.

SENIOR CHANGE MANAGER

HEALTH MODERNISATION HEALTH & COMMUNITY SERVICES

I feel that having a balanced and healthy wellbeing in my personal and working life allows me to have clarity and focus on whatever I put my mind to. I like to cycle to stay healthy and love cooking for unwinding after a stressful day. It’s particularly important for me to maintain my wellbeing because I like to create a positive atmosphere for the people I interact with.

Get involved We recommend...

Wellbeing Assistant, Luana, recommends the Netflix series “Human – The World Within”. Diverse personal stories from around the world reveal how lives, passions and goals are facilitated by the human body’s various complex systems.

Wellbeing Consultant, Olivia, recommends listening to Alessio Agostinis’ podcast. Alessio is a Pain Consultant for Health & Community Services. This was recorded as part of the ‘Our People’ podcast series. Alessio’s podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify by searching “Our People Series”.

Team Jersey Toolkits Find out more

AXA Physiologist, Ben, recommends his Spicy Minced Lamb Kofta Kebabs! Click here for the recipe.

Team Jersey has designed portable Toolkits containing activities to help promote a positive workplace culture for all teams across Government. Everything you need is in one neat box. Just add your team, post-it notes and pens and you’re all set!

Decembeard: Help us beat bowel cancer Put the razors away and grow your beard for December to raise awareness and money to support vital research and lifesaving work to stop bowel cancer. Whether you’re new to facial fuzz or an experienced beard grower it’s easy to join in; just clean shave on 30th November and watch your beard blossom. Already bearded? Ditch or dye your beard for December and get sponsored to sport a new look for the month. Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK. However it shouldn’t be. It’s treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early. For more information on fundraising and how to take part, please click here.

Dates for the Diary: 5 December 2021

International Volunteer Day is a chance for individual volunteers, communities and organisations to promote their contributions to development at the local, national and international levels. For more information, click here.

10 December 2021

Christmas Jumper Day. For more information, click here. Get involved and send your selfies to wellbeing@gov.je

Lloyds, bringing banking to you Financial wellbeing is extremely important and to understand what this means can be the first step to improving how we manage our finances. Following COVID-19 there may be worries around our own or family members finances as a result of our ability to work or sustaining self-employment. We really wanted to do something to support you and your families in these challenging and uncertain times. With

the lead up to Christmas, which can be an expensive time for some, we have partnered with Lloyds Community Bank to provide a financial wellbeing review service called ‘Bringing Banking To You’. Individual financial wellbeing reviews are available to all our employees and family members and can be completed with you at a time and place of your choice. This can be at home or a work visit, virtual or face to face. Please contact Maria on maria.sutcliffe @lloydsbankinternational.com to arrange.

Short articles

Mindset matter - finding balance Reading Time: 6 minutes

Tips for managing stress Reading Time: 3 minutes

Tips for managing stress Stress can happen for any number of reasons – it’s normal and natural. But there are ways to make it feel less all-consuming. Here are a few tips you can use to help control your stress levels.

Organise your time

1 3

Looking after you Reading Time: 2 minutes

Make lists, plans, daily calendars, and prioritise your tasks. Time management is key to helping you feel in control and able to handle pressure.

Looking after you

Talk to people Friends, family and colleagues are your support network. All you need to do is reach out.

There are many ways we can take care of our mental and physical wellbeing. And there are countless benefits to be enjoyed when we do so. Address the causes Tips for self-care

Ten ways to look after yourself today

Things we do to take care of our mental and physical health can help us to be more resilient to stress, and can improve our physical wellness, example You can’t changefor everything, through better sleep or lowering blood pressure.but there might be ways to resolve or improve an issue. Plan to tackle tasks in a 1. Cook and enjoy a healthy meal manageable way, working through them one at a time. 2. Do something relaxing like reading or meditation

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Take some exercise and use some energy Do something sociable with a friend or family member Have a relaxing bath and get an early night Take time to unwind after a long day Say no if you don’t want to do something Spend some time in the fresh air

Schedule ‘me time’ Everyone needs time to do the things they love and to simply relax. Be sure to make time for this each day.

Learn to accept It’s not easy but accepting that there are things you can’t change will help you to focus your time and energy on the things you can. Sometimes you need to walk away.

E: wellbeing@gov.je AXA Portal Technical Support: 01323 436727 EAP: 0800 072 7 072 (24/7 support)

Unplug from social media

Don’t forget that what works for one person might not be what works

Exercise won’t make stress disappear, but it will clear your thoughts and make you feel better and physically rewarded, which helps when dealing with stress.

Wellbeing Contact Details

Declutter or organise a space in your home

Be active