Introducing the BeWell toolkit to prioritise organisational wellbeing

“We must move away from the idea that it is us or the cause. If we are to sustain efforts in a way that works towards a longer-term vision, wellbeing must be at the heart. And, in doing so, we can create the types of communities we wish to see – by doing so within our own organisations, however small.”‍

Co-director, AVID

Following the publication of the Wellbeing Discovery Report, a sector wellbeing working group has been meeting to work on the following recommendations: to build a support platform, co-develop a framework and to network and influence.

We built an independent support platform called BeWell and looked at co-developing a framework. After looking at some, we decided that wellbeing looks so different for organisations and wanted to understand more about what smaller organisational journeys look like. AVID, Boaz Trust and Manchester City of Sanctuary received some support from a coach and the design lead, to think about and document their organisational well-being journeys over a few months and write up their findings - read them in full in the BeWell blog.

“We found it helpful to re-centre wellbeing and to confirm how important wellbeing is across the organisation, especially for colleagues who have joined the team more recently. Going back to basics this year has given us a good opportunity to talk about different aspects of workplace wellbeing, from our Employee Assistance Programme, counselling and flexible working to local opportunities to explore nature, 1:1 supervision and finding practical ways of connecting with colleagues when hybrid-working."

Director, BOAZ trust 

We collectively decided to abandon a framework for the sector as wellbeing means so many different things to different people but created instead a wellbeing toolkit - which contains a workshop slide deck, a policy template and a list of actions that organisations could pick and choose from depending on their needs. The toolkit can be used by any organisation or team to build on and develop in a way that works for them. 

Through Insight Hub research we know that more organisations are struggling with wellbeing than in 2022. This is exacerbated by the external political environment, and  although it is more important than ever it is often deprioritised and seen as an extra to the work. We think that collective care and wellbeing need to be reframed and seen as a radical act of resistance so that we can continue to support refugees, asylum seekers and migrant’s access justice. 

“Collective and self care is needed to allow staff to know what works for them best in order for them to feel safe and well in this work.”

Strategic and Partnership Lead, Manchester City of Sanctuary.

If you would like to find out more or test the toolkit in your team or organisation please get in touch with pascaleg@refugee-action.org.uk (we can reimburse time and expenses to do this for a limited number of organisations).