Employee Wellbeing Drop in Sessions

We are currently living and working in times of challenge, uncertainty and isolation.

Wellbeing affects everyone and individuals may fluctuate between thriving coping and struggling.

We appreciate that when you are struggling with a problem regarding your wellbeing or mental health, knowing where and how to find help is not always straightforward.

We are therefore pleased to announce that we will be introducing a new virtual ‘employee wellbeing drop in’ support service.

The service aims to provide support to staff who would like to chat through wellbeing concerns. The sessions are not intended to provide ongoing support or counselling but to act as a point of contact and reassurance and to signpost staff to other sources of support which they may not have considered previously.

We can provide resources and advice in relation to a range of subjects such as stress, work, relationships, family concerns, work/life balance, mental health issues or any concerns you may have around your physical or social wellbeing.

Seeking advice and being listened to, can reduce the feeling of isolation we can carry around when we are feeling anxious or troubled

What does a drop in session provide?

Drop-in sessions and appointments will provide a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space, in which you can discuss any health and wellbeing concerns that may be affecting you.

This encompasses any personal or emotional challenges you may be experiencing.

What we don’t provide

Please be aware that this service does not provide counselling or other therapeutic support, or support in a mental health crisis or emergency.

Where your needs are outside of our expertise, we will signpost you to other relevant services.

Guidelines for Individuals accessing the service:

Have the call or video consultation in a place where it’s unlikely that others will overhear your conversation. Where possible, use written text if this is difficult to ensure.

You may wish to use headphones instead of having the call audio coming out of laptop/PC speakers to prevent people being able to overhear the responses from the person you are speaking to.
If you want to refer to an individual it is advisable to change their name and let the person you are speaking to know you are doing this through Skype (IM) –so you can speak freely.
There will be the option to receive a follow up email which will summarise the conversation and include signposting to relevant services. You may prefer not to print any text from your online consultation but instead save it to a secure document on your device to limit the chances of others viewing it.

Please note – There are other support services should you need help urgently.

The Health and Wellbeing service does not offer emergency support.

If you’re in immediate danger of harming yourself or others: Go directly to the Accident & Emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital to get help.

If you’re feeling distressed and need urgent support. Contact your GP surgery to request an emergency appointment

If your GP surgery isn’t open, call the free NHS out-of-hours line on 111 option 2 (mental health). This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You can call Samaritans to talk to someone 116 123 or if you prefer, you can email jo@samaritans.org This service is available any time, day or night- Emails are written and responded to in English, but there is an interpreter service for Welsh speakers only on 0808 164 0123.

Confidentiality

It is important that you have complete confidence and trust in our service. The Health and Wellbeing Service is confidential and any information about your individual circumstances that you choose to share with us will be protected.

In accordance with all relevant data protection legislation, your personal information will be treated respectfully and sensitively and only shared on a “need to know” basis.

Exceptions to confidentiality occur when the Health and Wellbeing Officer believes you or others may be at risk of serious harm, when there are safeguarding concerns, and/or when a member of the team would be liable to civil or criminal court procedures if relevant information had not been disclosed.

In such circumstances, additional information is kept to a minimum and only disclosed to relevant others on a “need to know” basis.

Your data

We will only process your data on the basis of consent. This can be withdrawn at any time.

How we manage your data

We will keep computer-based records of all the information you provided during your drop in session(s). This enables us to offer you a professional service and to ensure you receive appropriate advice and support. All personal and sensitive data is processed in accordance with all relevant data protection legislation.

Privacy Notice

The Council is committed to protecting your personal data and working in accordance with all relevant data protection legislation. Your data is collected so we can set up relevant and timely support. This privacy notice explains how the Wellbeing Service processes and uses the personal data we collect from those accessing our service.

What data do we hold?

Our records include:

Personal Identifiers and Biographical Information – for example your employee number.
Contact Details – for example/or work email address and telephone number.
Sensitive personal data – for example, details of why you would like to seek support from the Health and Wellbeing Service.
Dates of meetings held with you.
Any services you may have been signposted to.

How do we use your data?

These activities are essential to our service offering and all communications are intended to be respectful and sensitive to those seeking support from the Health and Wellbeing Service.

Communications may be sent to you by email or via Skype.

Wellbeing Services also collect routine statistical information about each contact made which is later anonymised and analysed for audit and evaluation purposes. The utmost care is taken to ensure no individually identifiable information is disclosed

Sharing your data

Any information provided by you when accessing the drop-in service will be treated as sensitive personal data to ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018 and the Council Policy on Data Protection.

This means that we will not share the information you provide with others unless you have provided your consent.

How do we protect your data?

Any information disclosed to The Health and Wellbeing Service is stored securely and will be accessible to the service only.

In most instances, we will keep your data on our database for one year.

If you have any questions regarding this privacy notice please do not hesitate to make contact: healthandwellbeing@ceredigion.gov.uk