What you can do, or dream you can begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it... - Goethe

We know that the COVID 19 pandemic and the post-pandemic period have significantly increased pressure on social care teams, and workforce burnout is at the highest levels in recent history, with a dangerous risk to future functioning. 92% of organisations have concerns about staff wellbeing, stress and burnout following the pandemic.

Others have reported concerns about the exhaustion of large groups of staff (The House of Commons, Health and Social Care Committee), who were going above and beyond in the face of their own and others’ trauma. In social care, colleagues face “heartbreak” at the excess deaths of those they are caring for, coupled with a sense of feeling “abandoned”.

With over 12 years of expertise and experience, we believe our team can offer excellent professional support, care and skills to help social care staff reverse the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion they are experiencing before things escalate further.

The UK Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG, 2015) and NICE Guidelines endorse Mindfulness-Based Programmes (MBPs) as an important way to reduce stress and mental health issues and improve self-care, peace, and overall wellbeing.

In Scotland, recent studies with MBPs in social care have shown a significant increase in staff members’ ability to practice self-care, self-compassion, and wellbeing, dramatically reducing burnout due to increased stress and emotional challenges. The research in this area is growing (McCusker, 2020); however, it has been affected by ongoing significant pandemic challenges.

On 31 January 2022, The Scottish Government announced a new fund to improve staff wellbeing across the Adult Social Work and Social Care sectors. We would like to collaborate with organisations on this exciting initiative. Specifically, we are interested in applying to this fund to deliver kindness-based mindfulness programmes to enhance staff’s wellbeing and mental health.

Mindfullybeing has all the necessary infrastructure and a pool of skilled and professionally trained teachers to support this initiative. We are currently collaborating with forward-thinking organisations, and this is what they are saying;

“As a team, we became increasingly aware of and concerned by the personal and professional challenges members of staff faced during the COVID 19 pandemic. We asked Mindfullybeing if they could help us, and were delighted when two-thirds of our team said they were interested in developing their own mindfulness practice. The programme is still ongoing but early indications are that team members have found the sessions really helpful in enabling them to focus on their wellbeing in a kind and mindful way.” – Charlie McMillan (Chief Executive)