This weekend (10 October) marks World Mental Health Day, a day designed to encourage authorities to take action and create lasting change within mental health care. The theme this year is ‘mental health for all’ which is especially prescient given the toll the Coronavirus pandemic has had on all our lives.
We caught up with our great Skelmersdale Ambassador, Home Instead Senior Care to see how they have adapted to support their employees, their clients and their families throughout this difficult period.
Utilising Technology
Home Instead have worked together as one big team to support each other through these challenging times. Like many organisations, they effectively utilised Zoom to hold regular Business meetings to keep in contact with Directors. They also held a weekly Wellbeing meeting where they did not discuss work and each member of staff took turns to host a fun themed session including;
- Quiz
- Bingo
- Guess the Baby
- Charades
- Truth or False
Supporting Their Workforce
Home Instead provided dedicated support to their Care Givers through weekly calls to check on their wellbeing, which have continued to this day. They also provided each Care Giver with a wellbeing bag with sweets, water, bath bombs, hand cream, cooling spray and this was given to each Care Giver when they called each week for their collection of PPE. They further supported their workforce by being very flexible around their working hours, especially to support childcare and supporting them with many financial packages set to the individual needs.
Keeping Loved Ones Connected
To support their clients and their families, Home Instead launched a new product called "Virtual Home". Devices were fitted throughout the client's homes which enables family members to keep in constant contact with them and to support their lone living.