Mind your Head - Wellbeing Seminar - LYT YOGA - Weekly Wellbeing Challenges - MI Space to Recharge
Monaghan Institute
Sinead Corrigan, Monaghan Institute
Staff and Learner wellbeing/external providers/ to foster a culture of wellbeing in the college
This was a multipronged initiative which focussed on implementing 3 activities to support the mental health & wellbeing of Staff and Learners.
Sinead - together with the FET learners - followed a comprehensive needs assessment process which included surveys and local research was also incorporated into assessing needs.
The initiative involved comprehensive planning with engagement across campus and with external stakeholders. There was a clear understanding of objectives and adjustments were made to the plan as needed (e.g. extending out yoga sessions to students, ensuring Garda clearance was arranged as needed for fundraising etc.).
The wellbeing plan was fully implemented and any obstacles that arose were identified and resolved where necessary.
This initiative provided a very broad range of offerings. When running a multi-faceted initiative like this, we suggest considering how many responsible people need to be involved from the outset to keep it running. In this initiative, it was also fantastic to see the use of expertise on campus (e.g. the beauty students offering pampering sessions).
As per best practice, the evaluation was considered at the planning stage. To ensure sustainability, we propose formalising the evaluation where possible and gathering together the impact of the broad suite of offerings to see what is sustainable going forward and what has the most engagement and impact on wellbeing.
The success of an initiative or suite of initiatives like this requires having a strong champion within a college/campus to support the work. In terms of risk, it is important that the work does not all fall to one person.
