Kevin Richmond, CEO at the Foundation said:

“My first priority as leader of Sussex Community Foundation is to look after our team and build a challenging and supportive culture. We have huge ambitions which we can only achieve with a brilliant staff team. So, I am delighted that the team has achieved this award.”

As part of the programme, we ran an employee health and wellbeing survey, which uncovered that healthy eating was a prime topic and as a result, we welcomed the introduction of a staff fruit bowl.

We also talked about mental health and mindfulness, an area the staff were interested in exploring further. This led to the staff team taking part in a Mindfulness for Wellbeing session with Annie McAuley from Sussex Mindfulness Centre. Mindfulness practice helps us to become more aware of our different states of mind
– and make more conscious choices. The interactive session included practical activities to introduce both ‘formal’ & ‘informal’ mindfulness practice: meditation & mindfulness in everyday life. Mindfulness training can positively impact wellbeing and job performance by reducing stress, improving mental health, increasing cognitive performance.

We are pleased that wellbeing is now a hot topic within the team and are looking forward to moving on to the bronze award and implementing more changes to improve staff wellbeing within our workplace.