The West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub in collaboration with Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network and the West Yorkshire Creative Health Board is looking to commission an organisation to trial the delivery of creative wellbeing sessions as part of the support offered to staff and volunteers working in health and social care across West Yorkshire.

If you are established in delivering creative interventions based anywhere in West Yorkshire (not just Leeds) and would like the opportunity to focus on supporting the workforce please read through the details below and submit an application.

The deadline for submissions is  5 January 2025.

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub and Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network are collaborating to identify an arts or community organisation to support the development of the hub’s workforce wellbeing offer by delivering creative sessions to the health and social care workforce across West Yorkshire.

This is an exciting opportunity for a community / arts organisation to partner with the NHS and trial innovative ways of increasing workforce wellbeing.
The successful organisation will be based in West Yorkshire and have a proven track record of delivering creative activities to support positive mental wellbeing.

About the West Yorkshire Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub

The hub was established in 2020 as part of the covid response to support the mental health and wellbeing of the health and social care workforce in West Yorkshire. The hub offers a range of support and interventions including trauma support, Schwartz rounds, one to one therapy and a range of self-help and signposting resources.

The service is free and confidential and is open to anyone working in the health and wellbeing sector across West Yorkshire including VCSE organisations and volunteers. The hub covers approximately 145,000 staff and volunteers in total.
The service is part of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and serves all staff and volunteers working in the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.

For more information please go to the WY Staff Wellbeing Hub website.

About Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network

Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network was established in 2019 in response to the Creative Health Report which outlined the ways in which access to arts and creativity can support better outcomes in health including workforce wellbeing. The network aims to connect, support and champion creativity and the arts in health.
The network is open to anyone with an interest in arts and health and is hosted at the Cultural Institute at the University of Leeds.

You can read more about the network here: Leeds Arts and Wellbeing Network website.

The Brief

The WY hub is seeking to commission an organisation to trial delivery of creative wellbeing sessions as part of their wider workforce programme.
The participants of the sessions will be people identified by the hub who are experiencing mental health challenges in relation to their work. This could include experiences of stress, work-related trauma, burnout, moral injury or compassion fatigue in line with the nature of the work. Participants may be in work, on sick leave and / or returning to work after a period of absence.

Participants will be employed in a variety of roles in health, social care and community settings including VCSE organisations and volunteers across all five places in West Yorkshire (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield).

Access to the arts and creative activity are proven to have significant positive impact to mental health and wellbeing, reduce stigma and improve health inequalities by engaging with communities, reduce stress, and build resilience. In addition, engaging with creative activity provides participants with safe opportunities for self –expression and to process thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Further reading about how Creative Health approaches are working in practice can be found here: National Centre for Creative Health (ncch.org.uk)

The WY Hub is looking to partner with an organisation keen to trial new and innovative approaches to enhance their current offer, reach new participants and work holistically to support positive wellbeing outcomes for people accessing the service.

Activity Outline

We would like to hear from organisations with experience of delivering creative wellbeing sessions to pilot new ways of working and enhance the current hub offer.

Key information:

• Any creative medium or practice which lends itself to supporting the needs of the cohort will be considered.
• Creative sessions are not intended to replace psychological therapy, which is also offered by the hub, sessions should allow for varying degrees of participation as appropriate to the activity. Consideration should be given to how disclosure might be managed safely for participants and facilitators.
• Sessions may be delivered online or in person or a mixture. All other sessions offered by the hub are currently online due to the geography covered (WY wide).
• Sessions may be one off workshops/retreats, courses or a mixture.
• A mixture of session times e.g. day / evening / weekends should be considered to accommodate individual need and allow for shift working patterns etc.

The WY hub will:

• Identify participants for the sessions via the hub phone line and referral pathways.
• Promote the creative programme through their email mailing list, social media accounts and internal comms.
• Manage the participant sign-up processes for sessions and share this information with the delivery organisation.
• Offer regular catch ups and check ins with the delivery organisation to support the smooth running of the programme.
• Support the delivery organisation to undertake appropriate evaluation of the sessions and programme.

The delivery organisation will:

• Have a proven track record of delivering creative wellbeing sessions with people experiencing mental health challenges.
• Have robust governance processes in place to support staff delivery welfare / supervision and safeguarding.
• Meet regularly with the hub to update on progress and collectively problem-solve any challenges in delivery.
• Undertake some evaluation of sessions and delivery in collaboration with the hub to inform future planning and review.
• Ensure all facilitators have an up-to-date DBS check due to the nature of the participants.

Budget / Timescales

• A total project budget of £10,000 is available.
• The contract and budgetary arrangements must be agreed before 15 March 2025.
• Sessions must be delivered between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

To register interest for this opportunity please respond to the following bullet points in no more than two sides of A4.

• Outline the experience of your organisation in facilitating creative sessions for people with mental health challenges. Please include examples of how you have engaged with communities and what outcomes and impacts your activities have had for participants’ mental health and wellbeing.
• Provide a detailed outline of what sessions you could provide for £10,000 over a year including details such as anticipated numbers, timings, nature and duration of sessions, frequency and mode of delivery. All associated delivery costs must be captured within the budget.
• Describe the organisational support mechanisms you have in place to ensure the safety of participants and facilitators.

Please return expressions of interest to wyicb-bdc.wyh.mentalwellbeinghub@nhs.net by the closing date below.

A Q&A session has been scheduled on 26 November 1pm-2pm to answer any queries about the brief. If you would like to attend the session, please email Sima Mansoor wyicb-bdc.wyh.mentalwellbeinghub@nhs.net to be added to the meeting.

If you are unable to attend the Q&A and have any queries about the brief, please contact Kerry Hinsby (Clinical Lead) k.hinsby@nhs.net , Tim Norton Tim.Norton@bdct.nhs.uk (Hub Service Manager) or Fran Coard (Creative Development Manager) F.S.Coard@leeds.ac.uk

Application Process and Timescales
Submission Deadline – Sunday 5 January 2025
Decision deadline – Tuesday 21 January 2025
Contract and finances exchanged deadline – 15 March 2025
Delivery window – 1 April 2025- 31 March 2026.

West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub