A space for wellbeing

Wellbeing and mental health awareness are increasingly important for colleagues and the team in Cumbria wanted to find a way to make resources more easily available at work.    

Preston Mail Centre is now home to a ‘Wellbeing room,’ which is designed as a relaxed, quiet space where colleagues can find information about wellbeing and mental health support, and make calls to support lines should they need to. 

Leanne Lyons, area leadership team support manager, who led the initiative, said: ‘There’s a lot of information and support available, but colleagues said that it’s not always easy for them to access it.

‘So, I went on a CWU mental awareness course and decided to take action along with plant improvement manager, David Birch and plant manager, Simon Wilson. The room was painted and we put some plants and health magazines inside as well as plenty of charity booklets and posters about healthy living up on the walls and shelves. 

‘We’ve had a lot of really positive feedback from frontline colleagues, who use it regularly, as well as from the CWU. Managers have also been holding their absence or ‘Welcome back’ meetings in there, as it’s obviously a much more comfortable and less formal environment.

‘Many of our delivery offices across Cumbria, and elsewhere in the country, have set up similar spaces using a pack of materials we created. We’re really proud of the success of this initiative and we want to keep building on it.’

We’re looking for other teams who have been making changes in their workplace in response to feedback from colleagues. If you’re happy to share your story, please email groupcommunications@royalmail.com.