Wellness & Mental Health Working Group
The Thrive working group mission was to develop and implement a strategic plan to promote workplace wellbeing and mental health at WIN. In 2020-21, we developed a strategic vision and implemented a series of initiatives aligned to these aims, described below.
What we have done
In the 2020-21 academic year, Thrive has:
- Organised a WIN Wednesday seminar and discussion on home working and coping with isolation during the first pandemic lockdown
- Hosted a WIN-wide discussion on mental wellbeing and how we can promote healthy workplace practices. Through breakouts, we identified key challenges facing our members.
- Led an online session for principal investigators: "Looking after your team: Getting comfortable talking about mental health in the workplace".
- Run a fortnightly series of sessions aimed at promoting the Five Ways of Wellbeing, an evidence-based wellbeing framework used by the UK's National Health Service
- Promote lab handbooks as good practice for research groups, including provision of a template handbook, with emphasis on providing resources and guidance about mental health and wellbeing.
- Organise training sessions for general mental wellbeing, and workplace wellbeing best practices for managers and PIs.
What we are planning to do
Thrive has designated the following ongoing project going to continue into the 2022-23 year:
- Collate digital resources to help signpost existing university resources and policies relating to mental health and wellbeing.
Additional Resources at Oxford
Get Involved
If you have ideas, suggestions or energy to contribute towards advancing Thrive's mission, please email our Wellbeing & Mental Health Champion: Jacinta O’Shea (jacinta.oshea@psych.ox.ac.uk).
Thrive Group Members: