The pandemic has created myriad challenges for our communities across Northern Ireland – the impact of lockdown, financial pressures, home schooling, separation from extended family, working from home and in physical isolation of colleagues are just some of the out-turns of the last 14 months. This disruption has not only impacted on our family relationships and friendship networks but also our work relationships.
With the lifting of restrictions and ending of support such as the furlough scheme, many organisations are looking at their staff returning to the workplace in the coming months or formalising their approaches to work with either permanent working from home or taking a blended approach.
These changes will be at a time when anxiety remains high and many will have experienced trauma both directly and indirectly with little opportunity to access support and information.
The concerns, challenges and worries that employees may have coming out of lockdown may be about leaving their families and the security and safety of their homes, but also about returning to the workplace and re-establishing relationships with their work colleagues. As we transition to new workplace norms it is vital that employers support the emotional wellbeing of their people and how they are managing their relationships as we emerge from the pandemic.
For over 70 years Relate NI has provided counselling support to families, adults, couples, children and young people experiencing conflict, separation, isolation, parenting difficulties, low esteem and confidence and other issues that impact on having healthy relationships.
In response to the issues and challenges that people will face as we move forward Relate NI has developed support and wellbeing workshops, using our experience of improving relationships and expertise to support staff teams in organisations across Northern Ireland.
The aim of this work to support the wellbeing of the employees through providing information, an opportunity to talk and to share, and to identify opportunities to promote personal wellbeing and signpost to other help.
We offer tailored sessions that can focus on a range of areas depending on the needs of your people. These include:
- Family relationships coming out of pandemic
- Recovering relationships after lockdown
- Promoting personal wellbeing and resilience
- Identifying sources of support
Sessions last for 1.5hrs and include a presentation, breaks for participants to check in and end with a Q & A. We can carry these sessions out through zoom, enabling access from teams working remotely as well as in the office.
Our most recent evaluation survey with people who use our services has demonstrated that over 90% of respondents said that their engagement with Relate NI services improved their wellbeing.
We can work with up to 25 people and the cost is £350 per session. If more than one session is required we can offer reduced cost for subsequent sessions.
Find Out More
Our workplace wellbeing workshops can be tailor made to the needs of your team, and can include one off sessions or more regular relationship support. To enquire please contact our Head of Business Operations at trevorwright@relateni.org or by calling 028 9032 3454