Wellbeing in the workplace and beyond: The role nature can play

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I remember the first few weeks of the Covid pandemic. Working alone in my house – a familiar setting being used in an unfamiliar way. Not having quite the right desk set up, feeling a little distracted and concerned by the news, yet still aware of the important role I had to play working in the not-for-profit sector and making sure my team were safe and well.

It feels like such a long time ago now, and so many workplaces have been through so much change over the last three years. I’m really pleased to say that I feel at the RSPB we continue to evolve in some of the most positive ways.

Having invested in our mental health support over recent years, it was amazing to hear our RSPBeWell Team have won a Great British Workplace Wellbeing Award for ‘Best Mental Wellbeing Initiative’ recently. The Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards were established to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of organisations and individuals who have taken significant strides to address the current global well-being challenge.

With it being Mental Health Awareness Week, I wanted to reflect on the elements that have made this initiative the success it is, as well as the broader role that nature can play in supporting all of our well-being – within and beyond the workplace.

RSPBeWell

Wellbeing and resilience have been high on our agenda for a while and our work began in 2016 when the RSPB signed up to the Time to Change Employer Pledge, and the RSPBeWell scheme was born a little later in the pandemic due to the feeling that we needed to step up our support. In particular, due to the immense changes we all faced, but also because we acknowledge working in the NGO sector brings some unique challenges as many of us also feel the added pressure and responsibility of wanting to do everything possible to protect the nature we love.

The now award-winning RSPBeWell initiative includes:

·??????Regular internal articles that share uplifting stories and well-being tips, to tackling difficult subjects such as grief, inclusion and anxiety

·??????The launch of a?Wellbeing and Resilience Hub?that signposts external sources of support as well as our?Assistance Programme .

·??????An expansion of the existing Mental Health First Aiders and Wellbeing Champions to a team of more than 100

But the real success of these initiatives is in the engagement – the hub has had more than 25,000 views since launch, and a?monthly wellbeing newsletter?is open?to the workforce through a?subscription service ?has seen a 32% increase in readership numbers.

Collaboration and continuation

The RSPBeWell team is made up of colleagues from Health and Safety, internal communications, and our executive support and administrative teams. It’s a collection of individuals that are not strictly in the same team, and have come together to collaborate on something that has made such a difference. There is some thinking to show how remote working can have a negative impact on collaboration, and I’m so pleased that we are seeing shining examples that suggest the opposite is true for us. There is still so much more to do of course.

While the pandemic encouraged many organisations to reflect on and improve mental health resources, it would be a big mistake to think no further investment is needed. Analysis from ONS into the prevalence of depression among adults in Great Britain in autumn 2022 in the context of the rising cost of living showed for the period 29 September to 23 October 2022, around 1 in 6 (16%) adults experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms. This is similar to rates found in summer 2021 (17%), however is higher than pre-pandemic levels (10%).

This small snapshot of data alone is a reminder that as employers we need to consistently evolve. At the RSPB we’re committed to continuing to break down the stigma around mental health, yet know more can always be done. We recently created a new role of ‘Wellbeing Manager’ who will be further expanding our well-being strategy and supporting us to embed well-being into our day to day lives, and I’m really looking forward to supporting our new colleague Jenny on this work.

Wellbeing beyond the workplace

Finally, we know that as a nature conservation organisation, our interest and commitment to mental well-being does not begin and end with our colleagues. Whether you’re listening to birds from your window during a Teams call, or taking a lunchtime walk and spotting the new flowers of spring, nature has the power to boost all of our health, happiness and wellbeing. It’s crucial that as employers and individuals, we find time to welcome it into our working week in however big or small way.

There’s science behind this - increasing evidence showing the direct links between being in nature and a range of health benefits inspired the RSPB to create Nature Prescriptions, a new way to support the health of people and nature working directly with GPs in the UK.?Research also shows ?that increasing your connection with nature can positively impact a range of conditions, including stress, anxiety and depression.?

The trials of Nature Prescriptions have been really encouraging - GPs in Edinburgh found more than 74% of patients said they benefitted from their prescription and 87% of people said that they would continue to use nature to support their health and wellbeing. A new project, led by the RSPB and the Peak District National Park Authority, hopes to expand on this initial success and trials are currently underway.

So during this Mental Health Awareness Week, I want to thank colleagues in the RSPB for their commitment to collaboration in developing the RSPBeWell initiative, and also thank those that have had the courage to share their stories to support others internally. And while I know we shouldn’t rely on awareness weeks or days to highlight important issues, they can be helpful moments of reflection for us all on what we might be able to change in our routines, personal and professional, to support our wellbeing and that of our teams, so I encourage you to do so.

Please do share your top well-being tip – personal or professional – in the comments section.