Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Steering Group

What drew you to the steering group and what do you do for your own wellbeing?

What drew me to the steering group has been my concern for my colleagues as they struggled with pressures associated with their work, and with their student’s welfare and observing other organisations doing less than us, but also some doing more. I want UCL to be the mentally healthiest university where staff and student wellbeing are at the top of the organisation’s agenda. 
For my own wellbeing, I ensure I take one long holiday each year with my wife. We always choose a remote and relatively isolated destination, with very poor internet connection, it’s a chance to disconnect from the emails for a while and spend some time together.
 

Kevin has responsibility for the development and delivery of the Estates Strategy, the Capital Programme along with Property and Space at UCL. Kevin also leads on UCL’s Major Projects Portfolio that includes UCL East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the Institute of Neurology and Dementia Research Institute on Grays Inn Road. 

Kevin’s team collaborates at all levels within UCL and is responsible for all property management including landlord and tenant, lease management, rent, rates and service charges. Programme and Project management for construction projects, commercial procurement and consultant framework management, design standards, master planning, design development including developing and securing funding for our future capital plan together with the programme and project management of prioritised lifecycle and change projects.

I am the Head of Programmes for the Grand Challenges of Global Health and Human Wellbeing, and as part of this role I create opportunities for researchers at UCL to collaborate on impactful cross-disciplinary projects. I am one of the hosts and producers of Disruptive Voices, podcast that encourages critical thinking across a variety of topics. The Steering Group is a great opportunity for me to connect with colleagues and contribute to improving the wellbeing of others. Outside of work, learning artistic skills brings me a lot of joy.

I am the Access and Inclusion manager at UCL, and my role is to make UCL an inclusive environment for all. The aims of this steering group have overlap with my work and with the Inclusive Design Strategy. I come from a background of inclusive environments and hold an MSc in inclusive design. I hope to work with the steering group to ensure that the physical environment at UCL supports individuals mental health and wellbeing. 

I am Head of the Petrie collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology. I have been at UCL since 2019 and before this was joint Heritage Manager and also Collections Manager for Guildford Heritage Service. While I was at Guildford, a very close colleague and friend died by suicide, and I decided to become a mental health first aider after his death as a way of understanding what had happened. I was drawn to the wellbeing champion network as soon as I joined UCL because of this, and the wellbeing steering group felt like a natural progression from that – I feel very strongly about the importance of talking openly and honestly about mental health, and of taking notice when others around you are struggling. Reading, time in nature, long baths, painting etc are all wonderful things that I enjoy, but the main thing I do for my own wellbeing is to consciously draw a very firm line between work and home. It is all too easy in the heritage sector (and, I am sure, all of higher education!) to lose yourself in your work because most people get into this through deep knowledge and passion. But, I have learnt over the years (and, especially during the pandemic) that I need to be strict with work time versus home time for my own sanity as well as the wellbeing of my young family. It has the added bonus of making me more efficient with work tasks and, I think, a better employee and manager too.

I am Professor of Publishing and Book Cultures in the Department of Information Studies, and Vice Dean Wellbeing for the Arts & Humanities Faculty. I am also Director of the Centre for Publishing at UCL, and co-Director of the Bloomsbury Chapter, a collaborative initiative with the IES, and the General Editor for the Cambridge University Press Elements series on Publishing and Book Culture.  I have always been involved in helping with wellbeing issues, especially with regards to staff, in my different jobs to date, so being the UCL’s first Vice Dean for Wellbeing, and having the chance to input and support this Steering Group, means a great deal.  As my other job roles imply, I am particularly interested in how reading can help with wellbeing (something I know the value of first-hand!):  we’ve started a Reading Group for Wellbeing with the IAS this term, which is, I hope, embedding this in more active ways to support staff across all job roles.  I also find an early morning swim a good way to help with clearing my head and prepare for the day ahead!   

I’m the Operations Lead for our new UCL East campus on the Olympic Park.  I’ve been in this role for nearly 4 years after working at UCL and two other universities for over 20 years in a wide range of roles, most of which have been in departmental and faculty professional services roles.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what it will be like for staff, students and local communities on our new campus and wellbeing is a key part of that.  Because of that, I was drawn to join the steering group.  To support my wellbeing, I try to find times during the day to walk outside as much as possible.  When I’m coming into the Bloomsbury campus, for example, I walk to and from Charing Cross taking in the British Museum and Covent Garden along the way, especially Floral Court.  I find that helps to give me some time to think about the day or decompress.