Everybody has their own level of mental health, the same as their own level of physical health.  A person’s mental and physical health interact closely and are strongly connected.  Poor physical health will affect someone’s mental wellbeing, no matter how emotionally resilient they are.

Therefore everybody needs to have a good understanding of how to maintain good mental health and how to interact with people who may be struggling with mental health issues.  Saturday, 10 October is World Mental Health Day.  All mental health charities mark the day with their own campaigns.  The Mental Health Foundation’s campaign encourages people to communicate with ‘Tea and Talk’; MIND encourages people to ‘Do One Thing for Better Mental Health’.

The University has several resources and support mechanisms in place for staff struggling with issues that are affecting their mental health.  Staff can self-refer to Occupational Health.  The University’s Employee Assistance Programme offers leaflets, telephone counselling, face to face counselling and an information line:

University of Kent – Care first – Employee Assistance Resource; Log in = uokent; Password = university

OH has been running a series of blog articles since the Covid 19 crisis began and many of these focus on mental health and the challenges of working from home and working through change.  These are accessible on the Health and Wellbeing website

Learning and Organisation Development will be running an additional Virtual Training Session on Mental Health awareness with Anna Minogue; details coming soon.

Here are 10 Top Tips for maintaining good mental health

5 General Tips

1. Connect with other People: good relationships are important as they can help build a sense of belonging and self-worth, give you an opportunity to share positive experiences and provide emotional support to others

2. Be Physically Active: Evidence shows being active can improve your mental wellbeing by raising your self-esteem, helping set goals and achieve them and can cause chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood

3. Keep Learning: Research shows that learning new skills can improve mental wellbeing by boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem, helping build a sense of purpose and connection with others

4. Give to Others: Research suggests that acts of kindness can help create positive feelings and a sense of reward, giving you purpose and self-worth and help connect with other people. Examples are small acts of kindness towards other people, or volunteering in your local community

5. Living in the Moment: Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing, including your thoughts, feelings, your body and the world around you. ‘Mindfulness’ can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better

5 Tips for Good Mental Health at Work

1. Maintain Boundaries: Don’t let work activities creep into your personal time.  This is more important now when most of us are based working from home.  Put in boundaries of time and space for your work activities.

2. Keep in Contact: Prioritise Team meetings, in Teams, Zoom or telephone.  This is your work community and they understand the challenges of your work better than anyone else.  If you’re having a bad day, reach out to a colleague.

3. Take Breaks: ensure you maintain breaks in your home-working routine.  Breaks are especially important if your home workstation set-up is not as ergonomic as it should be.

4. Take your Holidays: 2020 is probably the weirdest work year for all of us and the lack of certainty can completely throw our sense or normality.  Working in this alternative way means it’s important we take time away from work, to rest and enjoy ourselves.

5. Reach out to your Manager: if you find yourself struggling or feel overwhelmed you can access lots of the University resources (see information above). You can also  talk to your supervisor or manager, or  consider contacting someone else in your management line or HR or OH.  The University has a Psychological Wellbeing Standard in place which contains an Individual Stress Risk Assessment Tool.

A working group in Finance have been working on a new solution for requesting financial approvals as part of the ongoing focus on simplifying how we work through Organising for Success.   

In the next couple of weeks, all financial approval requests will move to a SharePoint–based Financial Authority form under a new process developed with input from the Directors of Division. The form includes all areas needing financial approval and reporting access, and is automatically passed on the appropriate approver once it is submitted. Once approved, the form routes to UBW Help for processing and for creating and updating workflows. 

This move away from the existing paper-based process is designed to make applications easier to complete and approve. The new form will be visible and editable by the applicant, with reports to Finance Managers detailing financial approvers in their areas made available shortly. 

Due to the scale of the changes for both Divisions and PSDs, all existing approvers will also need to complete the forms to enable us to close the existing workflows held in UBW. Support will be provided with this, with new workflows based on the SharePoint forms then be in place from 2 November. 

More detailed information will be provided to relevant finance staff across the University next week ahead of the launch. In the meantime, please contact Vicky Gatward-Warner in Finance directly if you have any further questions. 

I am absolutely delighted to be able to announce that we have now selected our first Signature Research Themes. These are Food Systems, Natural Resources & the Environment; Future Human; and Migration & Movement. All three have a powerful contemporary relevance, and between them they represent some of Kent’s principal strengths in interdisciplinary work; the synergies between our research and teaching; our links with business; and our regional, national and international engagement and partnerships.

I would like to thank all those who took part in the selection process as well as all those who submitted proposals. It was immensely gratifying to see such strong contenders and it was extremely difficult to make the final selection. The themes that were not successful on this occasion will be encouraged to continue their excellent work with a view to their becoming future Signature Research Themes. I would like to thank Dr Tim Hopthrow, Professor Dan Mulvihill and Professor Catherine Richardson, the academic leads for the Themes Task and Finish Group, as well as colleagues from the Office for Scholarly Communication, all of whom have worked tirelessly in support of this initiative.  We will continue keep you updated on the work of the Themes over the coming months. You can find out more here.

On a different note, COVID-19 continues to dominate much of our lives. The number of positive cases of COVID-19 remains very low among our staff and student populations at this point. However, we all know circumstances can change and both Academic Divisions and Professional Service Directorates are working hard to ensure we have robust plans in place to respond to range of scenarios. We have developed a care package to support students who are self-isolating and will ensure we make details available to parents as well as students as we know this is an area of considerable concern.

We also have a framework in place to support the health and wellbeing of all staff during this challenging time and will continue to work closely with our Staff and Trades Union Representatives to ensure we are responding to staff concerns as they arise.

The University’s ‘Gold Command Team’, which oversees our response in terms of teaching delivery, campus operations and student and staff health and wellbeing, is now meeting twice daily. We continue to work in line with Government guidance, and this week received further confirmation that there is a strong commitment to working with universities to enable students to return home at Christmas. We will continue update you on a regular basis and additional information can be found on our Covid webpages for staff and students.

With the greatest of thanks and my very best wishes to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

In this series of public online seminars, the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) focuses upon technology enhanced learning. In rapidly changing times, the sudden move to more online forms of learning in HE brought on by COVID-19 have challenged us all. World leading scholars will highlight research that will help us all in our online teaching practice. The online seminars will explore learning design, learning analytics, electronic assessment and feedback and contract cheating.

CSHE are hosting five seminars – all will be held online via Microsoft Teams. You can find more details about each seminar on our website:

Designing for online learning: Practical implications from research on learning design and student self-regulated learning – Wednesday 14 October 2020 10.00 – 11.00. Professor Sue Bennett, University of Wollongong, Australia

Using Learning analytics to support learners and teachers at the Open University – Thursday 22 October 2020 13.00 – 14.00. Professor Bart Rienties Open University, UK

Online and Onboard: The impact of electronic submission, feedback and grading on the staff and student experience – Thursday 29 October 2020 13.00 – 14.00. Professor Emma Mayhew, University of Surrey, UK.

Detecting and addressing contract cheating in online assessment – Thursday 12 November 2020 10.00 – 11.00. Associate Professor Phill Dawson, Deakin University, Australia

Seminar 5 Title TBC. Thursday 26 November 2020 10.00 – 11.00. Professor Dragan Gasevic, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

The Templeman Library will be closed on Saturday 10 October while essential maintenance work is carried out. The Library will close at 21.00 on Friday 9 October and reopen at 09.00 on Sunday 11 October.

You will still be able to access the resources you need for your studies online, and alternative study spaces will be available across campus.

We will be available to help you remotely with all your library and IT queries.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this essential work.

Dr Lois Lee, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, will be taking part in an online panel discussion and Q&A hosted by Theos and Culham St Gabriel’s Trust on Wednesday 21 October titled ‘Worldviews in Religious Education’.

The event will consider the concept of a “worldview” and how it can enhance religious literacy in the UK – with particular implications for how Religious Education is taught in schools. Respondents will offer thoughts on the report, before opening up a discussion of how the concept of worldviews might impact upon our understanding of our religion or belief landscape more widely.

This event will be of interest to anyone concerned about the future of RE, and about how we develop greater public understanding of our diverse and complex society. You can register for this event via Eventbrite.

All University staff are invited to take part in the BAME Staff Network All Staff Survey 2020, which launches on Thursday 8 October. Findings from the survey will help the BAME Staff Network explore and examine staff experiences of working at Kent.

About the Network

The BAME Staff Network was launched in 2019 to support the University’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity and provide an active forum for BAME staff to discuss issues and experiences important to them. Full Terms of Reference for the Network can be seen on the HR webpages.

Current Network Co-Chairs are Dr Bridget Ng’andu, Dave Thomas, Dr Barbara Aduwemi and Vanisha Jassal; all have been staff members at Kent for several years. Two of the Co-Chairs are also studying at the University. They therefore bring a range of experience and knowledge related to both staff and students – critical to a comprehensive understanding of BAME experiences at the University. To find out about the people behind the Network, take a look at the blog and videos produced by the Co-Chairs during the University’s virtual ‘Belong and Grow’ week in May 2020.

Following its launch last year, a key objective of the Network has been to reach out to all staff members so please contact the Network at bamestaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk if you would like to talk to the Co-Chairs about membership or any other matters. Please note that this inbox is only accessible by the four Co-Chairs and all communication will be kept confidential and anonymous.

Staff survey

The BAME Staff Network All Staff Survey 2020 will enable the Network to continue its collaborative work with the University’s senior management team to address racial inequalities and create an inclusive culture and environment, where all staff are able to thrive, irrespective of their race or ethnicity.

We want to hear the views of all staff on working at the University and whether you think there is anything we can do to eradicate racial discrimination and advance race equality. This survey is just one of the ways you can be involved and we will be communicating regularly to keep you up to date with the race equality work we are undertaking. We are seeking views from all staff – academic, professional services, Estates and Hospitality – to help inform our future actions. The survey has been approved by the SSPSSR ethics committee and the data will allow the Network to produce necessary research.

You can go directly to the survey by clicking on this link. The link includes more information about the survey’s purpose and objectives, and outlines its complete anonymity and confidentiality.

The survey will be open from 8 October until 8 November 2020 and the Network hopes that as many staff members as possible will participate. If you have any questions about the survey, please email the Co-Chairs at: bamestaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk

Thank you,
Bridget, Dave, Barbara and Vanisha, Co-Chairs of the BAME Staff Network

To support this year’s Learning at work week, and the theme “Learning Journeys”, we will be sharing useful learning tools, factsheets, talks and videos each day. We will be focusing on the following themes:

Monday 5 October – Self Motivation

Tuesday 6 October – Time to Reflect—Wellbeing

Wednesday 7 October – Change

Thursday 8 October – Celebrating Learning Journeys

Friday 9 October – Continue Learning

These learning tools will be shared each day via our Teams channel and blog. If you would like to be added to our channel, please email Ldev@kent.ac.uk Our blog can be found on our latest news webpage.

Thursday 8 will also feature opportunities to attend sessions.

Join our Employee Apprenticeship Manager, Loretta Izod, from 10.00 -11.00 am on Teams, to learn more about the  many opportunities that Apprenticeships provide. Please email ldev@kent.ac.uk to register your attendance.

Learning at Work Week: Live. Between 13.00 – 17.00, the Campaign for Learning will be running a free online learning event, delivering 16 learning sessions. To find out more, and to register for the event, please visit their website. 

Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support, including weekly webinars.

This week’s (Monday 5 October – Friday 9 October) webinars are as follows:

Monday 5 October 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you & an update on our services’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 6 October 2020 – ‘Change and Resilience during the pandemic’
Time: 12.30-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 7 October 2020 –  ‘Top tips for working at home’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday  8 October 2020 – ‘Loneliness and Isolation ‘
Time: 12.00-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 9 October 2020 – ‘Mental Health Awareness’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link