Above: Staff at the Gibbet Hill wellbeing day

How did the idea for the wellbeing day come about?

Adele Kenny (WMS): WMS and SLS have worked together to develop and deliver an annual Gibbet Hill wellbeing event for several years. We listened to feedback and ideas from staff and students across our community, and now the event has grown - we've even taken things outside and introduced the ever-popular alpacas!

Wellbeing in the Gibbet Hill community is very important to us, especially because of our geographic distance from central campus. We actively work with colleagues from central campus to ensure that we can all benefit from the great initiatives available to us.

How do your two teams work together to design these wellbeing events?

Emma Over (SLS): It's been a rewarding experience to collaborate - both schools recognise the importance of wellbeing for all and being able to reward staff and students through valued events. The WMS team brought a wealth of experience, having masterminded similar events previously, and the organising committee agreed to meet regularly, listen to each other, respect everyone's ideas and share the workload. This means we're a very harmonious bunch!

Have you launched any other wellbeing initiatives that staff might be able to learn from?

Adele: We've set up several schemes that other teams might find interesting.

• Women’s Health: This group was founded to focus on menopause, but it's evolved to embrace women’s health more generally, building on the expertise at WMS to deliver training, support and advice. We're planning for our new Men’s Health Group to develop similarly.
• Safe to Fail: Failure is a reality of the research process - so we're promoting a 'Safe to Fail' culture across WMS and SLS. Our Ambassadors for Better Research Culture (ABRCs) organise regular 'Monthly Fails' sessions, encouraging researchers and academics to normalise failure and discuss resilience.
• Wellbeing Partners: We’ve established a ‘Wellbeing Partners’ group, with members from across the University including Report + Support and the Wellbeing team. They meet to share ideas and good practice, and plan forthcoming activities to support staff and student wellbeing.

Above: The much-loved alpacas make an appearance at the wellbeing event - joined by Rolf, the campus cat!

What are the positive impacts of hosting wellbeing events and activities?

Emma: There are lots of positive knock-on impacts. For example, at WMS's last wellbeing event, attendees fed back that they were interested in receiving more information about menopause - this led to the creation of our Women's Health group. It's really important to listen to your community's needs and try to respond with visible action where possible.

We will often ask teams or team members from across the University to come along to our wellbeing events - attendees might learn about healthy eating through our fantastic Eatwise team, hear about mindfulness opportunities, get chance to volunteer for sustainability projects, or be inspired to take part in physical activity with our Warwick Sport cycling stall. We'll also take steps to build on the momentum of the day: offering sculpture trail walks at lunchtime or group runs after work.

For departments, faculties or teams working alongside each other, wellbeing events provide a chance to network, create connections, help others to thrive, and celebrate joint successes.

Above: Staff get ready to host the WMS and SLS wellbeing event