At the busiest time of year for the homelessness workforce, it is more important than ever to centre collective care in our work, says Homeless Network Scotland Learning Lead Laura Ffrench-Constant.
We all know why worker wellbeing is important. Happy and resilient workers lead to better outcomes for the people they work with who are experiencing homelessness. It also means less sickness, absence and staff retention. It means people feel valued and respected.
However, as the latest Frontline Network worker survey highlights, there is more work to do to improve the wellbeing of the homelessness workforce.
It found that 64% of workers felt that their role has a negative impact on their wellbeing. Just over half said they often or always feel at risk of burnout. Wellbeing was the most likely reason cited for people who do not want to continue in their role.
Not everything can be solved with workplace yoga or signposting access to free counselling.
During a fringe session about wellbeing at the annual homelessness conference in Perth in October, we shared good practice examples from organisations across the network.
These included peer supervision, group reflective practice led by trained professionals, line managers incorporating wellbeing check-ins, dedicating time for team building and protected time for training.
Managing the workload of emergency cases and dedicating budget to wellbeing activities – and salaries – is also important.
There are lots of useful resources across the web that workers, line managers and leaders can use.
- BeWell’s wellbeing toolkit designed for organisations working in the migration space includes workshop templates, policy templates and a directory of support
- Groundswell’s selfcare toolkit includes grounding strategies and helpful exercises to facilitate reflective practice after difficult situations
- The Frontline Network’s wellbeing roundtable includes examples of actions leaders can take to prioritise wellbeing in their organisation
Over the summer we facilitated play-based workshops for over 100 housing workers about wellbeing. We gathered together people from different organisations to share ideas, experiences and laughter; and the main takeaway people shared was that they felt less alone and comforted that we experience some similar challenges.
Join us on 6 February for a creative and relaxed in-person workshop in Glasgow, generating solutions and ideas for workplace wellbeing. Priced at £50 per space for HNS members and £70 for non-members. You’ll find more information and testimonials on the booking page.
If your organisation doesn’t have budget for training, please get in touch at hello@homelessnetwork.scot or take a look at the Frontline Network training fund which is now available for wellbeing training.