Get comfortable with the uncomfortable

Following the escalation in the Gaza-Israel conflict in October 2023, there was a need to support staff impacted by the conflict and increasing humanitarian crisis.

Conversations were happening in departments making colleagues feel unsafe and causing concern around how to discuss the crisis. We know that international events can impact mental health and wellbeing and cause empathetic distress and uncertainty. Addressing this in a way that encouraged staff to express their views safely was crucial.  Our EDI Network discussed this issue and ideas on how to address the issue and support staff.

Following this discussion one colleague discussed a concept from their previous workplace, Get comfortable with the uncomfortable, which a series of discussions on issues and concerns that staff had.

An outline of these sessions was created using research and exploring other similar models, one particular example is Tea Breaks, which has been developed by Race Equality Matters. https://www.raceequalitymatters.com/tea-break/

We gained the support of communications to promote our first event, we developed some safe space guidance which was shared during the session to ensure that staff understood how the session would be facilitated (unrecorded) and that people understood that it was an honest and safe space, where opinions, perspectives and feelings could be freely shared.

The session was particularly impactful resulting in a regular quarterly session being run around a wide range of different topics from LGBTQ+ to raising awareness on a particular issue that staff feel concerned about, some of our topics have been identified by our data insights.

Ten colleagues originally participated in the pilot with positive feedback.  Colleagues felt the session helped with questions they had and concerns about and were able to gain support and ideas on how to support colleagues and customers, who were directly being impacted.  20% of our colleagues have accessed additional resources as a result of these sessions.  

Tips for organisations

Creating safe spaces to discuss thought-provoking topics that challenge us to embrace discomfort, allow space for personal growth and self-directed learning and allyship.

Contact person: Marianne Cuthbertson
Wesbite: www.incommunities.co.uk
Email address: marianne.cuthbertson@incommunities.co.uk