What started as a means of connection and support during lockdown has, by popular demand, become part of the fabric of the week for staff in Powys County Council providing an opportunity for staff to relax, be grounded and be in the present.
Our thirty-minute term time sessions provide a space for people to settle, ground themselves, take stock of where they are in the hustle and bustle of working life. That space can help participants be more aware of how they are emotionally, mentally and physically, and perhaps mark a transition – a coming into the present moment. Sessions take place on a Friday afternoon before the weekend, which is a good time to be able to take stock, appreciate and be able to have a break from the business of the week for just half an hour before the weekend begins.
There’s no requirement to attend regularly but by now some regular participants have a long-standing practice. Liz Williams, Chair of Mindfulness Wales, leads these sessions and tries to include a wide variety of practices from traditional to more light-hearted and innovative approaches including movement, poetry, sensory experiences and much more. Staff say they look forward to the sessions and miss them if they can’t make it.
Facilitating staff to participate in these regular mindfulness sessions contributes to their wellbeing and hopeful has an impact on how they cope, relate to others, flourish and make better decisions, so it is already weaving mindfulness into the personal and professional aspects of their lives.
We’re hoping that we can encourage more staff to engage in mindfulness and get the benefits from mindfulness practice which can positively impact so many aspects of our lives. Mindfulness has been included as part of the Strength Based Approaches for Collaborative Communication for Powys CC Adult Social Care Staff, gently weaving mindfulness into our lives and work. The next step might be to build on this basis to more explicitly include mindfulness in the life and work of Powys and its communities.
Email: jolene.hughes@yahoo.co.uk
Website: http://www.powys.gov.uk