Choice Housing puts health and wellbeing top of their agenda

The association, who have 309 properties in the Antrim and Newtownabbey area, is highlighting the impact the pandemic has had and the importance of support for both its tenants and staff.

In 2019, a comprehensive Health & Wellbeing Programme was launched by Choice which included the appointment of four voluntary Health & Wellbeing Champions with an allocated budget to drive the health and wellbeing agenda.

Since the pandemic this need has grown significantly, and Choice has responded to this by offering a wider range of support programmes over the last 12 months.

These include Protecting Yourself When Homeworking; Vital Nutrition and Sleep Well Workshops; Building Resilience and Mental Strength; Suicide Awareness; Mental Health Awareness and Communication; Mental Health First Aid; and Financial Wellbeing.

As well as a range of training and support programmes, Choice has also committed to supporting their teams practically, including providing several colleagues with access to iPads aimed at helping to facilitate home-schooling during the pandemic.

As part of an organisation wide ICT upgrade, several iPads were earmarked for colleagues who needed them while working remotely.

Lawrence Jackson, Choice Group Director of Corporate Services said: “During the summer last year, we undertook a period of extensive engagement with colleagues to get a sense of what they were feeling and how we, as an employer could help. As a result, we have progressed several initiatives aimed at helping our staff build resilience to cope with the ongoing

stress and uncertainty caused by coronavirus.

“Following ongoing engagement with our staff, it was clear that many of our team who were working from home were struggling to balance remote working with the demands of home-schooling and a big part of that was the availability of technology. This type of practical support is important during these challenging times as we adapt to a new way of living and working.

“With the pressures the pandemic has put on people and their lives, we have seen an increase in participation on a number of training programmes from previous years with some of our courses increasing by up to 130 participants from 2019. This demonstrates how important these initiatives are for our colleagues and the role employers need to play in supporting employees and their wellbeing."

Choice has also signed up to the Mental Health Charter and appointed Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) to support employees.