Professor Damien Ridge, Professor David Peters, and Dr Anna Cheshire have converted their mental health research into successful, solutions-focused healthcare programmes.
Mental health and workplace stresses are a growing concern in modern life, particularly in the wake of COVID-19.
University of Westminster researchers are converting their studies on men, mental health and workplace burnout into innovative treatments, which are already helping people to cope.
Atlas Men’s Well-being Programme
In the first study of its type, Ridge and colleagues uncovered how men experience depression in ways that align with their masculinity (eg as a heroic battle, hiding their vulnerabilities from view), meaning treatment approaches need to adapt accordingly.
Developed with Cheshire and Peters, the Atlas Men’s Well-Being Programme consists of ‘male-friendly’ counselling and acupuncture sessions – with patients encouraged to move between treatments.
Made available at London’s Victoria Medical Centre (VMC), GPs were trained to spot signs of ‘hidden distress’ in male patients, that might warrant their referral to the Programme.
This approach was considered particularly crucial since it is “increasingly recognised that around half of men will visit their GP in the year before they attempt suicide,” says Dr Susan Rankine, a Senior Partner at the Centre.
“I was in a very bad place, with suicidal thoughts,” said one patient helped by the Atlas programme, “I am now feeling emotions, taking a more active control of my life.”
In fact, of the 102 Atlas participants surveyed at the end of its pilot, 82 reported significant improvements in physical and mental well-being.
The results were so positive, VMC managed to permanently establish Atlas, free of charge, with support from Ridge and funding from Westminster Council, Nelsons Charity, and others.
The Programme, a finalist within the Primary Care category at the prestigious BMJ Awards in 2015, has brought real cultural change to VMC.
“We believe our healthcare staff have learnt to recognise more easily male ‘hidden distress’,” Rankine says. “And our sites provide excellent primary care services for male mental health.”
The programme was able to continue during the pandemic, with counselling moving online and acupuncture undertaken in “COVID-safe ways”.
In Rankine’s words, it is now “part of our ‘DNA’ at the practice”.
REFRAME: avoiding burnout in NHS doctors
A 2019 British Medical Association (BMA) study found 80% of over 4,000 doctors and medical students surveyed were at high or very high risk of burnout – for junior doctors, this was 91%.
The Westminster team has worked with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (“Guy’s” herein) to address burnout since 2014.
One outcome is “REFRAME” – an intensive resilience-building workshop, developed by Westminster’s Centre for Resilience.
Of the doctors who attended the first workshop, in 2016, 85% were inspired to make at least one life change, as a result, and 74% later confirmed that they had done so.
“The technique of slow breathing has helped me to calm down several times when I was under severe stress,” said one REFRAME participant.
“I have managed to reduce my stress levels in acute situations,” another REFRAME participant explained.
A further 68 Guy’s health professionals took the workshop in 2017, with 90% finding it useful, and 75% making one positive change, afterwards.
This 75% showed a marked improvement in stress and well-being, two months later, compared to those who made no changes.
“Work is work and personal life is separate,” said one participant. “I used to find it very difficult not to take ongoing issues at work, home and I think I am managing this better.”
These benefits, in turn, can be passed on to patients.
“It improves patient care,” said another 2017 participant. “Calm and stress-free doctors are good doctors.”
REFRAME is now provided to Foundation Year doctors as part of their mandatory training.
Attendance is also compulsory for the Junior Doctors Leadership Group, to help its members provide peer support.
This makes Guy’s “the only provider organisation to mandate resilience awareness and training for foundation year doctors”, according to the Deputy Medical Director at the Trust.
“Participating in this work with the University of Westminster has had an impact on how we, as an organisation, think about staff wellbeing,” the Deputy Medical Director adds. “It has moved wellbeing up the agenda over the years.”
ResilienceLab 360: guiding organisational leadership
The Centre for Resilience, led by Dr Justin Haroun, also delivers the ResilienceLab 360 programme, which aims to help leaders understand the issue of burnout and design solutions tailored to their organisations.
The 360 entails measuring participants’ heart rate variability, psychometrics, and relevant hormones, as a way to start a conversation around burnout.
As senior management remains male-dominated, the researchers approach the issue in “male sensitive” ways, in line with their findings on male distress and masculinity discussed above.
The programme has reached over 2,000 participants from 23 public and private sector organisations, encompassing local government, health, education, and industry.
Odeon UCI’s former CEO described drawing “life changing insights” from the project, especially during the business’s wide-reaching organisational restructuring.
Michel van der Bel, President of Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) has also strongly endorsed the programme.
The 360 assessment was “a good wake-up call”, he says, which he believes brought wider changes to Microsoft UK’s management culture.
“If you want to lead an organisation, then you first probably need to learn to lead yourself.”
Find out more
Connect with Damien Ridge
Connect with the Centre for Resilience via Justin Haroun
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