Keeping Well in South East London: supporting social care leaders

Ella Donnelly, Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner at Keeping Well in South East London shares how the NHS Keeping Well hubs are supporting social care leaders.

What are the NHS Keeping Well hubs?

Keeping Well in South East London (KWSEL) is a staff support hub for all health and social care staff across South East London.

There are also other hubs available across England.

The service was set up to provide mental health services to people working in health and social care, including rapid access to assessment and local mental health services.

We have a website providing resources and self-help materials. We also have a live chat function where you can speak with a trained mental health practitioner who can offer general wellbeing information and signposting. For those looking for further support, the service also offers wellbeing conversations or mental health assessments where we can refer to external organisations.

KWSEL recognises the huge impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the wellbeing of people working in social care and is looking to support the workforce with the stress and anxiety that has built up over the last two and a half years.

Supporting social care leaders

We’re keen to provide specific support for care sector leaders who have not only been supporting their patients and the public, but their staff too.

Recent research has indicated that care staff may have experienced potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means psychological distress that results from actions, or the lack of them, that violate someone’s moral or ethical code.

Moral injury is not a mental illness but can contribute to other mental health problems, such as depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. An example of a potentially morally injurious event during the pandemic was care home staff working and potentially exposing themselves to the COVID-19 virus without regulatory Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The prolonged stress that care sector colleagues have been working under means there’s an appetite for space to reflect.

How we’re working with Skills for Care

We’ve been working with the Skills for Care locality manager for South East London who’s been helping to facilitate introductions with key people in the local boroughs, and supporting with the promotion of the KWSEL offer.

Our locality manager dedicated the local Registered Managers Networks to be supportive reflective spaces facilitated by one of our psychologists.

These sessions were highly regarded by those managers who attended to share their experiences and listen to each other. One of the managers commented on how worthwhile it was, as there “has been nowhere to really talk about personal impacts in this way”.

What next?

KWSEL are now offering Professional Tree of Life (PToL) workshops and Schwartz Round reflective spaces to care sector staff across South East London.

These spaces offer staff an opportunity to come together and reflect on the work that they do, reconnect to their workplace values and their colleagues. The sessions also aim to prevent the development of mental health issues and offer support in a way that feels meaningful.

There’s evidence to show that those who attend reflective spaces have a decrease in feelings of moral distress and increased empathy for patients and colleagues. They also find that their feelings are validated and there’s a positive impact on the culture at work.

Recent feedback from a PToL workshop in Southwark highlighted that 100% of attendees agreed that they felt connected to the reasons they came into this field of work.

Initial feedback from a recent Schwartz Round in Bromley was overwhelmingly positive. 100% of those attending the session rated the session as good, excellent, or exceptional. One attendee shared that they felt like they weren't alone and it was nice to know others felt the same.

KWSEL are keen to hold future Rounds that focus on both the positive and challenging parts of working in social care.

In addition to the reflective spaces, our outreach is ongoing with visits to care homes and domiciliary care providers to visit staff and deliver free goodies.

Our plan over the next few months is to continue our ongoing engagement with staff across the sector by visiting as many homes and organisations as we can. We’re also piloting wellbeing conversations training for care sector staff alongside the Keeping Well in North West London hub. Finally, we’re excited to continue offering the reflective spaces to provide time and space to talk about the challenges and opportunities available when working in this sector. We look forward to seeing as many staff as possible at our future sessions.

If you work in South East London and would like to arrange a reflective space for your team, email slm-tr.keepingwell.sel@nhs.net.

Find upcoming events with KWSEL.

Find a Keeping Well hub in your area.

Find more support for leaders with our #DevelopingLeaders spotlight.

Print this page