Post Covid-19 lockdown: Developing a Wellbeing Action Plan

2020 has been a year of unexpected disruption, change and transition. For church staff team members, as with many others, this will have likely affected the physical location of their work, the quantity of work, the type of work, the focus of their work and their relationships with work colleagues. Huge uncertainty still exists and many changes are ahead. The mental health charity Ginger has recently reported that nearly 7 out of 10 people cite the Covid-19 lockdown as the most stressful time in their career. What approach is your church or you as a manager taking to looking after the wellbeing of your team during this time of uncertainty? 

One approach is to develop a Wellness Action Plan for each team member. WAPs are based on Mary Ellen Copeland's Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAP) and are advised by the mental health charity Mind as a way of looking after your team. Putting a Wellness Action Plan together is a task to be completed mutually by the line manager and the direct report and is a great way to value the individual's feelings, recognise the challenges of transition and proactively support your team in the times ahead. You can read Mind's excellent guidance here: https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-your-staff/employer-resources/wellness-action-plan-download/. Here is what Rachel Slough (Consultant and tutor on the UCAN Managing Church Well course) has to say about developing a Wellbeing action plan:

Download our Wellbeing Action Plan templates here:

WAP doc format

WAP PDF format

PPE available for churches

Christian procurement specialists 2buy2.com are supporting the PPE requirements of churches throughout the UK by creating a PPE buying group. 2buy2 are working with international experts to ensure churches have access to competitively priced supplies that are sourced from audited supply chains to ensure quality and ethical supply. The closing date for the first sign-up to the group buying service is 6pm on Wednesday 17th June, with delivery time expected as 8 weeks. Find out more details here: https://www.2buy2.com/personal-protective-equipment-ppe

What's Next? Don't rush back, venture forward...

Now that June has come about, and the novelty of the lockdown arrangements have certainly worn thin, we are living in another phase of uncertainty.

Some restrictions on our lives are starting to ease a bit, and this brings a level of practical relief. However, we don’t know if a second wave of the outbreak is on the way and we don’t know when and how further derestriction will come. The rate of exit from lockdown, even when self-governed, may be different and disparate, regionally, demographically and ethnically. It is into this present set of challenges that we write.

 At UCAN we have long been a proponent of operating as a church with clarity of purpose. This is just as important now, but the purpose is not to rush back to what there was before.

 The question to avoid is ‘How quickly can we return to normal, as it was before this all happened?’ As we move towards July 2020, this question is starting to be voiced. However, it is not a realistic question and no matter how well intentioned, it betrays the reality of the situation.

 We don’t know what normal will be, but the ‘new normal’ is highly likely to be different from the ‘prior’ normal’. This is a social, economic and a missional reality.

UCAN’s guidance when considering What’s Next? Don’t rush back, venture forward…

The links below contain thematic guidance on your approach to Building Management, People Management, Weekend Worship, Financial Planning and Communications when moving forward into the next phase, post lockdown. This guidance is not meant to be exhaustive and should be used in conjunction with government guidelines, denominational guidance and your normal pattern of risk assessment.

• What’s Next? Don’t rush back, venture forward guidance document (18 pages, PDF)

• Template risk assessment for reopening

• Template checklist for reopening

Top tips for moving beyond lock-down

1.      Download and read the excellent “Senior Pastors’ Guide to Reopening” from Church Fuel. It may be American, but it’s anchored well and a good read for your minister to navigate a central line of balance between the spiritual and the practical.

2.      Put health, safety and well-being of your employees first – which means an updated risk assessment. Think staggered working hours, bringing staff back in ‘waves’ and avoiding hot-desking where possible. An increased cleaning regime, and marking/tape to identify social distancing regions, and potentially moving desks around to ensure people face away from each other. The Government advises that employers should not encourage their employees to use personal protective equipment as a precautionary measure unless they are operating in a health and social care setting or are responding to a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19. This advice is based on the Government’s view that personal protective equipment will provide very limited additional protection unless the employee is working in a setting where the risk of Covid-19 is very high.

3.      Any kind of return to a building or service must be collaborative with colleagues and in agreement with each person. Don’t do all the thinking in isolation and then try and dictate changes.

4.      Take time over this – there is no rush back and it would be highly detrimental to find yourself unprepared if you find yourself with a diagnosed case of Covid-19 to deal with on site.

5.      Clear communication with your staff, congregation is not optional. People are going to have a variety of perspectives on whether it is right to return to meeting others, and when.

We’ll be publishing further Covid-19 resources, looking beyond lockdown over the coming weeks and months, so do keep your eyes open for new content on our website and forums. Also, if you have anything particular that you would like to share with others, make use of the forum or get in touch at info@churchadministrators.net