Be You can assist you to develop a staff wellbeing policy by providing a range of relevant resources and tools.
A wellbeing policy is a clear commitment to supporting mental health in your learning community.
It can be a strong step towards positively shaping practice as well as developing helpful processes and structures.
Service manager Donna, from The Mountain Preschool Lowanna Inc in NSW, discovered that the development of her service’s wellbeing policy has positively influenced the culture at their service.
Building knowledge to inform your policy
Be You resources provide a solid foundation for learning about staff wellbeing and self-care. This information will be an essential step in building community knowledge and can inform the content of your policy.
Be You materials you may want to explore include:
- Staff wellbeing Fact Sheet
- Educator wellbeing within your learning community
- Supporting early learning communities - Coronavirus (COVID-19) resource
- Staff wellbeing In Focus webinar
- Staff wellbeing short video
- Risk and protective factors module topic within the Understand professional learning module.
Foundations for success
To ensure your policy is going to represent your service and suit your priorities it takes careful consideration and reflection. Some prompts might include:
- Are there existing organisation documents that will assist you? Donna at The Mountain Preschool Lowanna Inc. was able to save time by viewing the resources offered by the organisation’s management system. From there they could personalise the template and make it their own.
- How will you consult with staff to ensure a holistic approach? Some services decided to set up a wellbeing committee that comes together to collaborate.
- How will you reflect on prior learning and shared understandings? What is mental health and wellbeing?
- What is the purpose of this policy and what are your specific goals? The Be You Implementation and Reflection Tool and Mentally Healthy Communities domain, can support your reflection process.
- Who does this policy apply to?
- What are the responsibilities for the different roles? Keeping in mind that for a community approach, everyone plays a role.
- How will this policy be communicated and embedded into practice?
- When will your service review this policy?
Extra supports
Be You’s Wellbeing tools for you provide links to a range of apps and resources.
Be You also has a list of national mental health services and support helplines you can share with your colleagues.
For more information about creating mentally healthy workplaces, visit the Beyond Blue page Work and mental health.