Are you a Head of Wellbeing?

Nuffield Health have announced they are partnering with Wood Green School in Oxfordshire to pilot a role of Head of Wellbeing.This follows a report on the potential of the Head of Wellbeing in Secondary Schools with Health think tank 2020health. Our new pioneer case study looks at this pilot in more depth.

It’s not just schools and Google (job title: Jolly Good Fellow) that are starting to have a Head of Wellbeing. There are some really exciting people doing the role in lots of different organisations.  The roles have developed out of different organisational needs – PSHE classes, Health and Safety, or public health for example. Here are profiles of the Head of Wellbeing role in a local authority, school and private company.

→Are you a Head of Wellbeing? → tell us what you do in the fourm

Local Authority: Tina Favier, Head of Wellbeing, Adur and Worthing Councils

As the Head of Wellbeing my role is challenging, interesting and wide ranging and provides the opportunity to effect meaningful change through proactive work on the ground with families and communities to find innovative and sustainable ways of improving health and wellbeing.

My role encompasses a variety of functions that focus on working with and helping to connect communities, commissioning and supporting the voluntary and community sector, leading on public health and promoting health and wellbeing, helping people back into work and tackling finance and debt issues.  I also have responsibility for Safer Communities and our local version of Troubled Families (Think Family), Safeguarding and Early Help for families.  There are also a number of regulatory functions I lead including: Environmental Health (Protection/Pollution and Food Safety & Healthy Workplaces) and Licensing.  Finally, I oversee our Democratic Services Team, working with and supporting our Elected Members and lead on Community Engagement.

Secondary School: Sarah Griffiths, Head of Wellbeing, Dulwich College

The Head of Wellbeing role developed from coordinating PSHE lessons for the boys at the school to a whole school holistic approach to education.  An audit was undertaken to assess the relative contributions of different elements of school life to the wellbeing of the boys and this helped us identify areas to celebrate and areas to enhance. Our programme and approach now extends across the 6 months to 18 years age range and includes staff, parents and, increasingly, the local community.

Between Year 7 – a major point of entry – and leaving at the end of Sixth Form, a Dulwich boy will have approximately 100 timetabled hours specifically focused on supporting and improving his wellbeing. This includes topics such as;  friendships, bullying, mindfulness, resilience, financial literacy, campaigning, sexting, pornography, mental health, domestic survival, sexual health and careers.

The strength in the wellbeing approach is its universality as all members can benefit from a focus on wellbeing.  The term wellbeing provides a common link for a large range of activities at the College and allows us to really understand what we mean by holistic education.

Private Company: Dr Catherine Kilfedder BSc, MSc, MAppSci, PhD, CPsychol, BT Head of Wellbeing

Catherine brings her clinical psychologist background to the Head of Wellbeing role at BT, part of the Wellbeing, Inclusion, Safety and Health distinctive practice area (1 of 5 in BT) within the HR function.  BT’s early focus was on safety and the physical aspects of health and has evolved over the years to include mental health in its broadest sense. The BT journey in this area has continued into wellbeing including the active and positive promotion of resilience

Read more about wellbeing policy at BT in a global organisation of 90,000 employees.

→Are you a Head of Wellbeing? → tell us what you do in the forum