This week, United Purpose is nominated for a Not a Red Card award – celebrating mental health excellence in the workplace. The nomination for the ‘Collaboration Award’ recognises our unique partnership with The Thrive Programme. Since 2017, we’ve been working together to develop a forward-thinking staff well-being and empowerment initiative. Here’s how:
‘A plant or animal is said to be thriving when it is flourishing the best it can in the environment it is in’
Our United Purpose is to move people Beyond Aid; to become independent and live lives free from poverty, with improved life chances and agency over their future. United Purpose (UP) is a family of diverse organisations, partners and people who work together to bring about this change in often challenging, complex and high-pressure environments. Our staff’s well-being and mental health is therefore fundamental to driving the change that we want to see in the world.
For this reason, in 2017, UP began working with The Thrive Programme - an evidence-based psychological training programme - that has taught UP staff the skills and insights to become much more than resilient and confident people, but to flourish and get the very best out of life – to thrive.
We are delighted to be nominated for the Not a Red Card Collaboration Award, celebrating our innovative partnership and programme through which our staff are exploring how they think and act – challenging their limiting beliefs, enhancing their well-being and ultimately creating a different mind-set for development.
The Thrive Programme is unlike any other coaching or wellness programme; it does not teach leadership theories and it is not therapy. Instead, it trains the individual how to manage the fundamental aspects of their psychology and how to change the limiting beliefs that constrain them. Through a combination of coaching and personal work, staff are learning the fundamentals of how to manage beliefs, thinking styles, emotions and cognitive processes in order to feel more powerful and in control of their experiences in life.
They are building a more ‘internal locus of control’, a stronger sense of self-efficacy, and higher social confidence. This is turn creates high, stable self-esteem, the ability to resist social pressures and the skills to maintain good mental health. As a result, we are creating a thriving organisation where people at every level of our work aren’t just satisfied and productive, they are actively engaged in creating the future they want to see – both the organisation’s and their own.
Over the next few days, we’ll be sharing some personal accounts from our staff and live tweeting from the Not a Red Card Awards tomorrow. Here we will join hundreds of experts in panel debates, inspiring stories and workshops to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health in the workplace. We look forward to sharing more; follow the conversation and our progress on Twitter with #NotaRedCard