Staff training and development

Run in partnership with OD&PL, the Psychosocial Resources suite of eleven workshops will help you develop your self-awareness and self-management skills. Sessions include: Exploring neurodiversity; Self-care and self-organisation for flexible or hybrid working; Understanding and managing anxiety and panic; Setting limits and saying no in the workplace.

These workshops are particularly relevant to the stresses, strains and uncertainty in our personal and professional lives and provide an opportunity to develop tools and coping strategies. Sessions dovetail together but can also be taken individually. Learn more.

Mindfulness is a form of attention and awareness training that can help you relate more effectively to your day-to-day experiences. It involves paying attention to thoughts, feelings and body sensations in a way that increases understanding, acceptance and self-compassion. Mindfulness aim to help you achieve mental balance, manage difficult experiences, and create space to make wise choices:

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

This evidence-based 8 week course offers foundation training in mindfulness skills and attitudes. It will teach you how to use these skills in everyday life to be in a better position to work with your mind, cope with everyday stressors and make more effective choices. To find out more or to book a place on a taster session, please email staffcounselling@leeds.ac.uk.

Mindfulness at work for leaders and managers

This course introduces leaders and managers to a range of mindfulness techniques, skills and attitudes to help you take a more active and compassionate role in managing your attention and achieving greater mental balance. Mindfulness practices can benefit leaders in many ways – improving decision-making skills, removing distractions, and managing stress and demands effectively. The programme comprises two, half-day workshops with home/work practices in between. Learn more.

This programme for leaders and managers explores how the application of attachment theory can help you reflect on the way you work, your impact on your team/stakeholders and improve your professional work and leadership. According to attachment theory, experiences of careseeking and caregiving have their roots in infancy and shape our expectations and responses to careseeking and caregiving in adult life. This course encourages you to recognise how attachment theory can manifest itself in your work relationships and will help you develop your competence in reflective practive, whilst exploring new ways of working to enhance your wellbeing and creativity. The nine sessions run over 4-5 months. For more information, please contact Marcus Hill m.hill@adm.leeds.ac.uk.

We offer an ongoing programme of needs-led, role-based courses to support colleagues across the University:

Supporting people in distress

This workshop will help you recognise and understand the range of possible reactions a colleague, student or member of the public may have in times of distress. We look at ways to support a person in distress and the methods to consider in managing distress in the mid and/or longer-term. This course also explores the impact on the individual who is supporting someone in acute distress or over prolonged periods. Learn more.

Individual role-based consultations: Supporting people in distress

If you have a particular issue or aspect of your work that you are finding challenging in this way, then you may wish to contact us to arrange a one-to-one role based consultation.

Role-based competencies for managers: Working with issues of stress and mental health at work

This is an interactive workshop for leaders and managers who have direct line management responsibilities. The session introduces good practice examples, psychological models for supporting staff wellbeing and utilises case studies to give managers the tools and confidence to effectively deal with issues of stress or mental health amongst their team members. Learn more.

Role-based mental health training

A University-wide working group (Security Services; Student Counselling and Wellbeing; OD&PL; Leeds University Union; Workplace Counselling; Student Support; UNIPOL; Residential Services; and the Wellbeing, Safety and Health Service), has developed innovative, University-specific guidance and training for frontline staff who are called to support students, staff or members of the public in crisis. This work is moving to pilot stage to capture broader stakeholder contributions. Our aim is to then roll our this provision to Campus Security teams and Residence teams before cascading to all frontline members of staff. 

The Workplace Counselling team provide bespoke training packages for groups of staff, or teams, interested in exploring particular situations or needs. Please contact us at staffcounselling@leeds.ac.uk or call and leave a message on 0113 34 33694.