The psychological wellbeing of our people is paramount.
We know that by providing the right support, not only will our patients receive great care, but our teams will have a positive working experience where colleagues feel able to respond to the demands of healthcare provision without detriment to personal wellbeing.
We spoke to Liz Lipsham, People Potential Manager, to learn more about the support available to staff.
“Back in Autumn 2020, we were successful in securing COVID recovery funding from NHS Charities to implement TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) and psychological wellbeing programmes led by a team of trauma therapists,” says Liz. “It was evident that colleagues were struggling with the impact of potentially traumatic events at work, so we put services in place to risk assess, support and provide additional therapy to help.”
TRiM Leads, Kim Boorman and Kati Tewkesbury
Our TRiM leads support a network of TRiM practitioners across all divisions. In the last year alone, the TRiM team have responded to 82 referrals involving 319 of our people. Feedback from colleagues accessing TRiM is overwhelmingly positive and many comment that the intervention has been pivotal in enabling them to continue at work and with their career.
“The immediacy of offering the TRiM risk assessment and support following a traumatic event greatly reduces the risk of colleagues going on to develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” continues Liz. “It also reduces the likelihood of burnout as colleagues feel less overwhelmed and more able to cope.”
The TRiM team work very closely with the violence prevention reduction leads, as often incidents at work are as a result of violence in the workplace. The insights gathered through the TRiM process have helped inform improvements to our violence prevention and reduction agenda.
During and following the pandemic, our trauma therapists have supported a great number of teams to overcome the distress that they were experiencing through our psychological wellbeing programmes.
“Since the pandemic there has been an increase in colleagues being triaged to access individual trauma therapy,” says Liz. “These referrals often follow the one-month TRiM assessment, as the impact of the work-related incident has been so great.”
Alternatively, referrals come via our occupational health service or pastoral fellows. Access to individual trauma therapy for work related incidents is supported by a team of six trauma therapists.
“In the past year we have received 60 referrals to individual trauma therapy,” explains Liz. “Evaluations from colleagues at the end of this therapy, including scores from validated pre- and post-screening tools, indicate an improvement in the symptoms and distress that colleagues are experiencing, as well as in their ability to cope with the demands placed upon them. Many colleagues have fed back that being able to access the service has been the critical element in enabling them to continue delivering great care to patients and supporting operational demands. Colleagues also report that it has supported them to remain personally healthy and resilient.”
Michael, Claire, Maddie and Caroline, some of our six trauma therapists
Access to trauma therapy will continue for difficulties that colleagues experience as a result of work-related issues. The criteria for referral is stringent but all referrals are carefully considered. If it isn’t possible to accept a referral, then colleagues are supported to access alternative resources or services.
“Last year we also trained 32 colleagues as restorative supervisors, and we’ve committed to fund the training of a further three cohorts this year,” continues Liz. “This includes CPD and enhanced training for restorative supervisors and our professional nurse/midwifery advocates, so that restorative supervision can be provided to groups of colleagues.
“Moral injury is being weaved into the restorative supervision programme too, in recognition of the psychological distress of action or lack of action that conflicts with colleagues’ moral or ethical code. We hope to be able to support those struggling with this and reduce incidences of stress and burnout.”
The team continue to look at ways to expand how we support colleagues. The prospect of a more regional approach to TRiM is on the horizon, which would pave the way to a train the trainer TRiM model, further securing the programme’s sustainability.
Top photo: Our team of restorative supervisors.