Health and wellbeing in focus at Durham University

Created by VERCIDA for Durham University

Claire Hunter’s long career at Durham University has culminated in an important new health and wellbeing role to support all employees.

I’ve been with Durham University since 2000 and a lot has changed in that time. When I started, I was a training assistant in the personnel department – that job title and that department name have changed since then – and my role involved supporting apprentices with their development. Then, I moved into management roles and now I am the Head of Organisation Development Business Partnering.

This is a newly created role and my portfolio within this team is health and wellbeing – it feels like a natural progression for me. After 23 years at the university, I have a really good understanding of what it’s like to work at the university and what support services we offer our people for their health and wellbeing. I’ve been involved in organising health and wellbeing workshops and identifying relevant training providers who can help us achieve our aims.

In the past few years, health and wellbeing, especially mental health, has become more prevalent. The pandemic was a real turning point. Everything shifted in 2020 and we started to work a lot more on creating resources to support staff. We created resources aligned to the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing principles: Connect with other people; Be physically active; Learn new skills’ Give to others; Pay attention to the present moment. It kept us really busy and it was so valuable for our colleagues.  

Now, we are able to build on what we already have. We have a staff-accessed sharepoint for the Health and Wellbeing Hub. It has had more than 32,000 visits since its launch, which shows that staff are comfortable with accessing support. Our Occupational Health Service is fantastic, but we needed to do more in terms of organisation development for health and wellbeing, so we can meet everyone’s needs on a personal level.

I’ve always found Durham University to be a very supportive place for my own health and wellbeing. It is really important that job applicants, as well as current employees, feel comfortable with disclosing mental health issues, so they can get the support they need. Everybody should feel comfortable about talking about these issues.

We have an employee assistance programme, mental health training and workshops, staff mental health first aiders, wellbeing walks and cafes. And we have a calendar of wellbeing events, so we can make sure that important awareness days receive the attention they deserve.

From September onwards, all managers will be required to undertake mental health training, so they understand how to support members of staff. It’s an online course that covers all the provisions we have in place, such as risk assessments, wellness action plans and how to have those often sensitive wellbeing conversations. This training for managers is as important as the training we conduct for health and safety and equality and diversity – the university has given a high priority to mental health.

Looking at the bigger picture, we have a health and wellbeing strategy that is part of a joint university strategy for staff and students. As part of that, we are working to sign up for the mental health charter. This  shows the commitment we have to support staff, as well as students at Durham University.

There are great support services for students as well as staff, and we hold workshops to train staff who are dealing with distressed students. It is so important that we provide a wide range of services and people feel comfortable talking about their mental health here.

I am very happy at the university, having been here since 2000. It has provided me with my career. To be able to enjoy this sort of progression from starting as a training assistant 23 years ago is wonderful. Some of the apprentices I worked with when I started at Durham University are still here – we offer real career paths and that helps with mental health too.