Recharge Your Wellness Week

activities and events to recharge your wellness

The School ran a series of events from 10 May to 14 May 2021 to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week and help to recharge staff wellness.

Events were scheduled during the week in the morning, lunchtimes and afternoons so that as many staff as possible had the chance to attend.

If you attended Recharge Your Wellness Week, we hope that you found something of interest - whether it was an opportunity to learn more about a new wellbeing topic, to shed a little more light on a wellbeing challenge that affects you, or just the chance to catch up with colleagues. If you didn't get the chance to attend, we've uploaded many of the resources from the week to the sections below, so that you can still get something from the week to help recharge your wellness.

Please contact the Staff Wellbeing team at staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk if you have any questions or comments about the week, or about staff wellbeing in general.

11.00am - 12.00pm, Monday 10 May

To kick off Recharge Your Wellness Week, join our Chief Operating Officer Andrew Young and Dr Aarti Anhal, founder of before nine, for an open and inspiring conversation in which they share their experiences and strategies around workplace wellbeing and mental health.

Listen in as Andrew and Aarti reflect on:

The LSE approach to workplace wellbeing
The wellbeing challenges that we all currently face
The roles played by managers and leaders in enabling wellbeing
Experiences of mental health and wellbeing during challenging times
“Workload Super Hacks”

Just click here to register in advance for this event. After registering, you'll receive a joining link a couple of days before the session.

10.00 - 11.00am Thursday 13 May and 10.00 - 11.00am Thursday 3 June

This year, unpredictability and worry have played havoc with sleep for many, but new ways of working have also created opportunities for many of us to take more control of our sleep patterns. Sleep patterns within an organisation can be contagious. Learning how to protect your sleep can have benefits for productivity, health and wellbeing - both for you, and the people you interact with.

In this series of webinars for LSE staff, we’ll make the case for sleep, and how to make the most of it. Sleep Evangelist, Dr Sophie Bostock, will explore what controls your sleep, your unique sleep need, and how to cope when you can’t get enough. Over two webinars, we’re hoping to encourage you to make small changes to your sleep habits, and to see what difference it makes.

The first webinar session takes place at 10.00-11.00am on Thursday 13 May, with the second session due to follow at 10.00-11.00am on Thursday 3 June. In between the sessions, you’ll be provided with weekly workbooks by email to support you with your sleep goals from Dr Bostock.

For more details, and to sign up, please click here to visit the webpage.

2.30 - 3.30pm, Wednesday 12 May

Everyone who has been working from home over the last year - especially those who have been juggling multiple roles - will recognise how challenging it has been to set and maintain appropriate boundaries between our home and working lives.

Creating time for disconnection is crucial not only for our wellbeing, but it also enables the rest and recovery that fuels our ability to perform at our best.

Join Dr Aarti Anhal, founder of before nine, as she shares evidence-based strategies around:

Defining the work/life balance that works for you
Starting new habits, letting go of old ones
Using Willpower & Waypower to sustain healthy boundaries
Becoming comfortable with the word ‘No’

Simply click here to book your place.

10.00 - 11.00am Wednesday 12 May

Virtual working has not only limited our capacity to build and maintain relationships, but has brought to light gaps in our communication systems that lead to misunderstanding, decreased empathy, conflict and frustration. With remote working set to continue, mastering relationships remotely will become a key skill to gain respect, positively motivate and foster a connection with colleagues.

This interactive and playful workshop will explore how we can improve the ways in which we relate to each other and connect deeper while working remotely.

The workshop will draw on neuroscience, psychology and contemporary performances to take you on a journey of exploration, shake up your beliefs, bring you back to the present moment and help you create practical action plans. We will explore a range of communication styles and how to overcome factors that cause disconnection, misunderstanding or conflict.

Just click here to find out more!

Key benefits include:

Explore communication traps from the virtual world and unintentional micro-habits that cause disconnection, discomfort and conflict
Explore different communication styles and the most common factors that cause misunderstanding when remote or flexi-working
Learn how to use resonance, presence and respect to create a sense of virtual togetherness

Just click here to register in advance for this event. After registering, you'll receive a confirmation email containing information about joining.

10.00 - 11.30am Friday 14 May

Join Lucy Colclough from WorkWILD for this 1.5 hour online interactive workshop exploring what nature can teach us about resilience and new beginnings in the workplace. The workshops explores the concept of resilience by studying an eco-system in crisis and teaches participants how to use nature as a tool to boost their mental health while working from home.

In the session you will:

Explore nature’s positive impact on your mental and physical health and understand why it's important to harness these impacts at work.
Share your own lockdown experiences (good and bad) with colleagues in small groups and explore the concept of resilience by studying an eco-system in crisis.
Come away refreshed, revitalised and with a workWILD toolkit of practical ways to boost your nature exposure while working from home.

Just click here to reserve your place!

12.30 - 1.00pm Tuesday 11 May and 1 - 1.30pm Thursday 13 May

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provides staff with 24/7 access to confidential support on all aspects of wellbeing, including personal finance and legal matters, counselling, health advice and more.

This webinar is your chance to find out more about what the EAP can offer to you. Vicky Costello from BHSF will be on hand to provide conversational updates on what services are offered by the EAP and how you can best make use of them. Please do come along and ask questions!

Tuesday 11 May (12.30 - 1.00pm): click here to join [Meeting ID: 811 5128 7420, Passcode: pM16Ek]

Thursday 13 May (1 - 1.30pm): click here to join [Meeting ID: 898 1993 1483, Passcode: aXx42n]

11.00 -11.45am Tuesday 11 May

Re-connect with colleagues and build new relationships in the Conversation Café. Through rotating breakout rooms and various discussion topics, enjoy 45 minutes of captivating conversation with your peers.

Just click here to get involved.

The ever-popular Body Balance and Body Conditioning classes are back! These 45 minute sessions are an opportunity to stretch yourself – especially if you’re working at a computer during the day – as well as being a chance to catch up with colleagues in a strictly non-work setting.

Just click on the links below to reserve your place:

Body Balance: Thursday 13 May (5.00 - 5.45pm)

Body Conditioning: Monday 10 May (5.00 - 5.45pm), Tuesday 11 May (5.00 - 5.45pm)

1 - 1.30pm Friday 14 May

Pop along to the LSE Tree for an informal group conversation about all things running (you can find us under the 'Fitness and wellbeing' tab). Swop running tips and stories, find out about new running routes and find fresh motivation to top up that step count.

If you'd like to learn more about what wellbeing resources are available in the School, did you know that you can ask Staff Wellbeing to present to your department/division? Just get in touch at Staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk if you'd like to arrange this.