Five Ways to Wellbeing in the workplace

At the PAVO staff development day on Tuesday our team manager Jane Cooke, and former mental health team colleague Freda Lacey (now with the health & social care team), ran a session on Five Ways to Wellbeing in the workplace. They asked each of us to look at how the Five Ways – Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give/Be Creative play a part in our personal and our work lives. They were also keen to find out how PAVO, as an employer, could support our wellbeing at work, and asked us to make suggestions which would later be considered by the senior managers.

PAVO staff development day 12 April 2016

Our team originally wrote about the Five Ways last June in a joint blog post - which is where you can find out about the origins of the Five Ways (a resource created by the New Economics Foundation) and how being active in the five areas can lead to happier and healthier lives. The Powys Public Health team is understandably keen to promote the approach far and wide. So anyway, it was really interesting to reflect and consider if anything had changed for us since last June, and also to hear what our colleagues thought about an approach which can, apparently, add another 7.5 years to the average lifespan!

First – take notice!

Jane started by asking each of us to spend a couple of moments considering how we felt – right then. Bored? Excited? Full? Empty? Happy? Sad? Lively? Tired? She invited us to go outside, close our eyes, and listen. To tune in to our other senses. Luckily the weather was on our side! We felt the sun on our faces, the breeze in our hair. We heard lambs bleating and robins singing. It was wonderful! When we were called back in to the conference room a few minutes later people were reluctant – they wanted to stay out there and enjoy the beautiful day, the fresh air, the green Powys countryside which is on our office doorstep. We acknowledged that most of us don’t do that at lunchtimes, even. We know it’s nice. Yet we don’t do it during our work day.

Connecting with colleagues

Giving & connecting

Then Jane invited us to have a conversation about something really nice we’d given to someone else. On my table a colleague said: “The gift I enjoy giving is time. It is crucial for my aged parents. I take time to sit with them and talk about things that happened 50 years ago.”

Jane explained that giving and connecting are very similar. We leave three quarters of ourselves behind when we come to work and very rarely say how we’re really feeling. Yet, if we open up as human beings in the workplace that actually helps our work. It changes the energy of the workplace. “It’s not magic. Really.”

Be active

Another colleague told me that the ideal number of steps we should take each day is 5,000. He does over 2,000 a day even when in the office, but does go out for lunch rather than sit at his desk. 

Freda dug a bit deeper. What does “being active” mean to people? Interpretations included – physically active, mentally active, busy, making things happen, the new, variety… Freda said that clearly the interpretation was very subjective. One person climbed 5 flights of stairs several times a day to their home, another went to exercise classes whilst yet another walked a dog. The Five Ways can be completely different for everyone – but that is absolutely fine. It was also pointed out that it is about a sense of achievement – it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks if you feel you’ve achieved something.

1000 steps so far today!

The barriers

We then looked  at some of the barriers to doing things we know are good for us. A long list soon filled up a flipchart page – time, too busy, not valuing ourselves and our wellbeing, not prioritising, habit, physical limitations, apathy, guilt (a sense of being too selfish)....  the pressures were described as sometimes different for men and women.

Some good ideas

We discussed how we could use the Five Ways to change the way we work. Here are just a few of our ideas:

• Standing meetings… or acquire some standing desks for the offices.
• More visual ways of working – which supports creativity in the workplace.
• Cycling to work scheme.
• Frontline staff connecting with the PAVO trustees more regularly.
• Using computers to tell us when to take a break.
• Reactivating the book share scheme.
• A lunchtime walk around Plas Dolerw park in Newtown or Llandrindod Wells lake.
• An outdoor workplace, and a team-building day creating it!

Some of the ideas depend on organisational involvement, but many of the suggestions really just require a group of enthusiastic colleagues to get together and start! Carl Cooper, Chief Executive Officer (left in top photo), rounded off the session by promising to look at all the suggestions and agreeing to support the ethos of the Five Ways by encouraging the opportunities and culture for these things to happen.

Keep learning

Right now it’s time for me to Keep Learning. I have my staff appraisal next Tuesday, and there’s an empty box on the form titled Training & Development Plan for the coming year… But first, I just want to catch up on what Jane wrote about why we like the Five Ways to Wellbeing… in particular: “the things that make us feel good, that are enriching and fulfilling, are not always the same as the “big sell” – do more and do it faster, buy more stuff, buy it faster, chuck it away faster… so what does that mean for the way that we work together as part of PAVO?”

Have you used the Five Ways to Wellbeing to help promote a healthy workplace? Let us know what you think in the comments box below. We always love to Connect with our readers!

Five Ways to Wellbeing

Have you heard about the  Five Ways to Wellbeing? We wanted to find out more in our team, so decided to ask Sophia Bird. Sophia is a Principal Health Promotion Specialist in the Powys Public Health team, and amongst other things, leads on mental health promotion for the team. We asked her:

What are the Five Ways to Wellbeing and where has the idea come from?

Sophia Bird

Well, the New Economics Foundation was commissioned, a few years ago, as part of the Foresight project, to research the key factors influencing well-being. NEF was asked to identify these key factors and then turn them into a simple, understandable resource containing actions that can be undertaken by almost anyone within their everyday lives. What they came up with is the Five Ways to Wellbeing. They found that those people who were active in 5 particular areas of their life tended to live happier and healthier lives. Furthermore, the research showed that by building the Five Ways to Wellbeing into daily routines, people could add around 7.5 years to their lives. More recently, The Children’s Society published a report showing that the Five Ways applies equally to children and young people, though being creative is more applicable for them than giving.

So, why not use the plan to see how much you are doing and whether some areas could do with a little more action?

Or, for those of you who are more electronically minded, you can download an app that will give you reminders about the goals you set yourself and some other ideas of things you can do for you. The app is called Five Ways to Wellbeing and was developed by Somerset County Council.

And let me know what you think and how you are getting on.

So, within the mental health team here at PAVO, we decided to explore what the Five Ways meant to us personally.

1. Connect

If I’m honest, one of the reasons I enjoy volunteering at The Quilt Association in Llanidloes so much is because it immerses me in a community of creative like-minded souls! Most of the time… we don’t always see eye to eye, but so long as it stays on good terms a bit of debate can be healthy anyway! Jackie

Another summer exhibition at The Quilt Association in Llanidloes

So - if I am being honest this is a difficult area for me - I am a bit of a hermit and not very comfortable socially unless I have a role or I am with people that I am very familiar with - having said that when I do really connect it is often very liberating - one reason I chose the Gestalt route for my therapy training was that it’s very experiential and gave me lots of opportunity for being open and vulnerable in a safe supported place - I still go to a personal development group four times a year. Jane

Yes, honesty is the challenge! So I feel I connect by being involved as a voluntary advocate for a person with mild learning disabilities. Spending time with her, listening, sharing, supporting and laughing together is huge and something that I enjoy doing. I also love to spend time with friends and family, particularly my children and my grandson who always helps me to ‘step out of my comfort zone’, for example, quad-biking and zip-flying!  Glynis

I’m involved in several hobby groups and clubs, where I connect to people who share similar interests. Sometimes I take an active role in the organisation of these groups and at other times, I prefer to leave all that to others so I can relax, go along to participate and have fun! I play football, attend various creative groups - writing, photography etc and regularly volunteer at large sports events. Although it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I love social media and I connect to many of my friends that way, some of whom now live on the other side of the world. I love to communicate in writing and so facebook has revolutionised my social life - in a good way!  Anne

2. Be active

Love walking my daughter’s dog across the fields at home and losing myself in the moment…..very lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Gardening is another love but I need to actively find more time (perhaps once the building project is complete)...room for improvement! Joined a running club that starts soon…..who knows?  Glynis

Anne (far left) with Hay St Mary's Ladies' Football Club. (Photo: Brecon & Radnor Express)

I have always had loads of energy and my parents soon realised that this was best channelled into sport rather than me climbing all over the furniture or hanging upside down from playground equipment! At the moment, I play football for Hay St Mary’s Ladies' Football Club and train regularly with them. I like to cycle - although the undulating landscape of Powys provides more of a challenge than London used to. Yoga I find relaxing and good to maintain suppleness. Every now and then, I think that I’m still a gymnast. Unfortunately, at my age, my somersault days are (probably) well and truly over!  Anne

Could do better! There are lots of active things I like doing - gardening, walking, yoga - but do I do them often or consistently enough - no!  Jane

My garden, on a steep hill overlooking the Upper Severn Valley, keeps me fit! I love growing my own fruit and veg despite the many challenges of hungry mice, slugs, blackbirds and pigeons, who all think I’m growing food for them!  Jackie

3. Take notice

The Montgomeryshire Canal - a familiar view for Glynis

I have been meditating for nearly a decade (not continuously - that would be silly) and I find that this helps me to relax and notice what my body is telling me: very useful if I start to rush around too much and neglect to rest as much I need to. Learning to pay attention to what my body is telling me is a lifelong task - and one I still grapple with.  Anne

One of the things I like to encourage is being open to our senses - so as often as possible I take a few minutes outside to close my eyes and listen, or notice the breeze.  Jane

I like to notice other creatures as well as the humans in my life… Sometimes it’s positive - my cat does smile, seriously… but slug slime can be maddening if it’s deposited all across a half-eaten lettuce in my veggie garden...  Jackie

4. Keep learning

My sister is currently learning Chinese! That’s a step too far for me… but this year I did learn how to graft apple trees and now have 10 baby trees - thanks to my former colleague Laura for the prunings to get me started!  Jackie

I always love learning - I am writing a dissertation now as part of my on-going learning as a therapist - working in the Mental Health team at PAVO always gives me lots to learn and follow up on - I like the feeling of learning new things and being excited by challenging ideas.  Jane

Stitchwort flowering by Jane's garden

Well, they don’t call me “three degrees Anne” for nothing. Actually, they don’t, but I do like to remind people about them fairly regularly, I admit! If there’s a course that aligns with my interests and I have time, then I’m on it. I like to really immerse myself in a new subject and learn about it in depth. Really, it’s all about learning about myself and hence more about others too. I’m fascinated by people - we’re such complicated and interesting creatures. There will always be new things to learn about how we think, how we interact with our environment and how different we are from each other, whilst at the same time all being fundamentally human. And one day, I really will start that PhD...  Anne

Love learning (in all forms)…..so thinking of signing up to a clinical nutritional course next September…..well, watch this space!!   Glynis

5. Be creative and give

Love to travel down to London to spend time with my eldest son or over to Shropshire to see my daughter. Miss seeing my youngest son who has just returned from Canada and is currently based in Germany….but the summer is fast approaching!  Glynis

I’ve got eight grandchildren - so no shortage of opportunities for giving birthday presents! I also support a number of local and national charities.  Jane

Time is my most precious commodity I think. I don’t give enough time to family and friends, especially those living far away, so here’s hoping to make a better effort in future. (Starting to use WhatsApp on my phone recently probably doesn’t count….)  Jackie

I’ve been a volunteer in sport for most of my adult life and this is one of the ways that I give back. I love helping people. I like to create safe and relaxed environments where people can fully express themselves and have fun. I also volunteer in mental health and for various causes that align with my values. I think, for me, a big challenge is making sure that I don’t give too much of my energy to other people and to make sure that I look after myself properly too. Spending time on ourselves isn’t selfish, especially for those of us who work so hard to look after other people. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this.  Anne

Cat or tiger....? Jackie's feline friend...

What do you think about the Five Ways to Wellbeing? Let us know in the comments box below.