It’s Dry January, a time to break habits that aren’t making you feel happy or healthy. A time to completely reset your body and give your mind a rest and recharge by living alcohol free for the month!

At Wellbeing at Work, we wanted to celebrate the amazing work that Child Maintenance Group, part of the Department of Work and Pensions, who are part of our Workplace Awards within Wellbeing at Work. In addition to achieving bronze, silver, and gold awards, Child Maintenance Group has implemented policies which are vital for supporting staff throughout the workplace, as well as policies to support alcohol-dependent employees.

With this, Wellbeing at Work recently had a chat with Child Maintenance Group. We wanted to find out why it was relevant to do this and what they have done to ensure there is support for alcohol and wellbeing…

“Plymouth Child Maintenance Service has continued to keep health and wellbeing high and at the top of our agendas during and following the pandemic which has had such an impact on us all. As you know, the Department of Work and Pensions has a wealth of policies and procedures around drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. However, it’s often personal stories that resonate with people more.

We hosted several calls with staff to hear their personal stories and those from supportive organisations. We talked about alcohol addiction, eating disorders, bowel cancer and not smoking for the last 12 months with colleagues. Feedback was positive, saying they found them informative and well worth attending.

We heard from one of our own colleagues sharing their experience with addiction, and it really resonated with us. From their experience, they want to create a sense of community within our service centre, so as to allow us to have honest, open, and supportive conversations with each other.

At Child Maintenance Group, we’ve kept the focus on the health, safety, and wellbeing of colleagues by ensuring we all understand the effects and impacts they can have on our lives. We have access to an Employee Assistance Programme, an Occupational Health Service provider, as well as Mental Health First Aiders and line managers. These are all available and open for colleagues to contact and provide support and help.

Through hybrid working, we’ve reviewed and improved how we share educational information with our colleagues. This is in order to facilitate more engaging content to highlight the risks, influences, and impacts along with the benefits of quitting and making lifestyle changes. We use a variety of media types, such as “in house film clips,” and design sharing platforms, such as SharePoint, to promote colleagues’ interest and passion, for example, a weekly health and wellbeing bulletin, a weekly newsletter and ad hoc email communications outlining webinars and events.

We continue to rely on our Health and Wellbeing Representatives who engage with colleagues on a day-to-day basis and have campaigned during “a Word about Wellbeing” mystery shopper calls recently to seek what health and wellbeing means to individuals and how we can make more of a difference!”

From reviewing the Child Maintenance Group alcohol toolkit that was submitted for one of their awards criteria, alcohol dependency was explained and accepted as a condition that requires help and sometimes treatment, which means that it carries the same employment protection as any other illness – with no stigma attached!

Individuals are provided with support and advice throughout, especially if there is a relapse or a re-emergence of alcohol-related problems. As many are aware, treatment can be a long-term process.

Child Maintenance Group also ensure encouragement is given when a staff member does admit an alcohol misuse problem. This includes advice to seek further help for appropriate treatment. Child Maintenance Group understand that individuals are more likely to admit to their problem in an environment where their condition is understood.

Child Maintenance Group are doing some brilliant work when it comes to Wellbeing in their workplace, by ensuring employees are supported and valued whilst at work, this really helps the workforce to thrive both inside and outside of work! Well done Child Maintenance Group!