Hello and welcome to the Wellbeing section of our HASSRA intranet site aimed at providing you with information, help and ideas.

Myself and the HASSRA regional teams have been working alongside the DWP Health Safety and Wellbeing team and RightCorecare as a key delivery partner of the Live Well Work Well initiative which has been rolling out at all DWP sites since June of last year.

Many of you will already have attended a launch event at your office which will either have been facilitated by members of the Rightcorecare events team or have been designated as a Launch in a Box for sites of fewer than 55 members of staff. Either way I hope you enjoyed the event and found the information provided useful and thought provoking.

Some of you may still be waiting for your launch event with Phase 1 of the project ongoing until the end of September and I would urge you to participate on the day both in attending the launch and completing the online questionnaire via the Wellbeing Centre. This really will assist you and your office in helping you as an individual and the office as a community in improving your Wellbeing.

How can HASSRA HELP?

HASSRA will be involved in this process every step of the way. We will attend launch events wherever possible and will engage with HASSRA members and potential new members as well as site sponsors in providing advice, guidance, support, ideas and encouragement.

A limited supply of Dynabands and Pedometers may be available at the’ Live Well Work Well’ events being held around the country.

Dynaband exercises

Club Structure

Where feasible we will look to assist in setting up new HASSRA Sports and Social Clubs providing expert advice on the logistics involved and making recommendations on programme and activities. Where clubs are already in existence but largely inactive we will look to help revitalise them with ideas and support.

We will also use role model clubs as exemplar offices. Sharing their good ideas where possible and identifying examples of “best practice”.

Best Practice and Good Ideas

This is where I hope this section of our Intranet site will prove particularly useful. I am constantly amazed at some of the great ideas that I see being put into practice at HASSRA local club sites around the country and I’d like to share these ideas with the rest of the HASSRA community. Why reinvent the wheel every time when we already have a template to deliver something beneficial and most importantly enjoyable.

Through this site I’d like to publish different ideas in terms of events, activities and suggestions on how we as individuals and also as teams, ideally working within a HASSRA framework, can start to support and encourage lifestyle changes as well as to inform and refine our future activities.

My intention is to update this site on a regular basis with new ideas and tips on how to take this forward so I therefore would like to invite any individual, either a HASSRA member or a potential new member or HASSRA clubs to contact me on moz.baker@dwp.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively on 07810 291288 with details of what you’re doing in the name of Wellbeing or tips on how we can help with areas such as stress, nutrition, sleep, work life balance and activity.

• Do you have any healthy recipes you’d like to share?

• Are you a member of a Walking Group? Where do you walk? How is it set up?

• Are you a member of a slimming group? How does it work? What about Swimming, Cycling, Relaxation, Meditation, Discussion Groups?

• Have you been involved in any taster days for things such as Yoga, Indian Head Massage, Pilate’s etc? How did it work? Any recommendations?

• Do you have any suggestions for possible additions to our HASSRA programme in taking forward the Wellbeing agenda?

• Any pictures and new stories of how launches and subsequent events have gone would also be most welcome. This is your site to share your news and stories with your HASSRA colleagues.

To encourage your support and assistance within this project I will be offering a small HASSRA gift to the best ideas received so please get in touch. It really will be great to hear from you.

HASSRA is here to help and really can make a difference. Please take note of my contact details and also those of your Regional Business Partner who will be more than happy to discuss any plans you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Moz Baker

HASSRA National Programme and Wellbeing Coordinator