If you are in crisis - experiencing overwhelming thoughts and/or feelings to either hurt yourself, hurt somebody else or you are planning or attempting suicide, get urgent help.
Mental health
At Oxford Brookes University, we are committed to fostering a supportive environment that prioritises mental health and wellbeing. This section provides information about the actions the University is taking to achieve this as well as signposting to the resources and support available, whether you are a manager wanting to know how to support individuals in your team or someone wanting to know more about ways to improve your own mental health and wellbeing.
The World Health Organisation defines mental health as a ‘state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community’.
Mental health is more than the absence of a mental health issue or illness. We each have mental health in the same way we have physical health; and just like our physical health, we need to do things to look after it. Mental health issues are more common than we might think with one in four of us experiencing a mental health issue of some kind in any given year.
Everyone is unique and we offer a range of information and resources to help you to look after both your mental health and physical health. Remember that the two are linked!
The Five ways to wellbeing offer some simple steps which you can do every single day. Our Improving Health and Wellbeing webpages are structured around the Five Ways to help you do this.
There are tips for managing personal stress and a range of resources in Staff Learning about personal stress management and ways to develop the skills to support this.
The Strengthening your personal resources section in Staff Learning provides a further range of resources covering everything from reframing negative thoughts and building self confidence to time management and productivity.
You may find it helpful to look at this Individual actions/Engaging with wellbeing resources template which provides an opportunity to reflect on the different things that might impact your health and wellbeing alongside some potential activities and links to resources. Or you could create a Wellness Action Plan which is designed to help individuals identify what keeps them well, what might cause challenges to their mental health, and how to address these collaboratively with their manager or team.
Wellness Action Plans (WAPs)
The Wellness Action Plan (WAP) is inspired by Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Recovery Action Plan® (WRAP®): an evidence-based system used worldwide to support mental health and wellbeing. Wellness Action Plans (WAPs) are not exclusively aimed at people with mental health issues. WAPs are intended to be a universal, proactive tool for everyone in the workplace. For more information see the Wellness Action Plan Google Site.
Stress is not in itself a mental health illness, but it can impact mental health and contribute to or exacerbate mental health issues if it becomes chronic or unmanaged. The separate Stress Management section provides further information including the University’s policy for the Prevention and Management of Work-Related Stress.
The University has a range of help and support available.
This includes our network of Mental Health First Aiders. Mental Health First Aid is help offered to someone developing a mental health issue, experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health issue or in mental health crisis.
Having a Wellness Action Plan can help you to proactively identify triggers or early warning signs of stress or poor mental health, and identify support needs in advance to facilitate taking action before problems escalate. For more information see the Wellness Action Plan Google Site.
Awareness
Having a level of awareness and confidence about mental health is a great place to start when thinking about how we can support others. We have a range of Mental Health Awareness training aimed at different audiences in Staff Learning. This includes training aimed at line managers.
Signposting
Knowing where to signpost people if they are experiencing mental health issues is also invaluable. The Getting Help and Support section above gives an overview of the University’s provision for staff. There is also a dedicated provision for students.
Make sure you know where to access this information so you can share it if needed.
Becoming a Mental Health First Aider
You may want to think about attending the Mental Health First Aid course to become a qualified Mental Health First Aider. MHFA won’t teach you to be a therapist, but it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis - and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
The University has signed up to the University Mental Health Charter Framework which provides a set of evidence-informed principles to support universities to adopt a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing. The charter is composed of 18 themes mapped around four domains. This includes a ‘Work’ domain consisting of two themes:
- Staff wellbeing which includes workplace culture, interventions to support good staff wellbeing and support for staff who are experiencing problems with their mental health.
- Staff development which covers staff training and development in relation to mental health, including role-specific training and manager training.
The charter framework informs our Wellbeing at Work strategy and will provide the roadmap for the achievement of the work domain elements of the charter. The University’s Personal and Organisational Development strategy that focuses on staff development will further support the staff development theme.