Award for Bury St Edmunds healthcare firm’s training innovation

A trauma-focused training course, designed to help professionals supporting the victims of sexual assault, has seen significant recognition for healthcare firm, RehabWorks.

The award-winning Bury St Edmunds-based company was approached by the Crown Prosecution Service to develop a unique national workshop, which could support thousands of staff who are involved in dealing with some of the most traumatic crimes against individuals.

With a history of delivering customer and sector-specific training and support initiatives around workplace wellbeing, RehabWorks developed and implemented a tailor-made course to the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team in 2015.

Last month, the course, due mostly to the successful output for thousands of CPS staff across the UK, was acknowledged in the 2017 Civil Service Awards, when the Crown Prosecution Service took the award for Health and WellBeing.

The course focusses on helping the teams identify and deal with the potential Mental Health issues of dealing with the inherent trauma of their job.

Tom Bivins, Preventative Services Lead for RehabWorks, (pictured above) said: “The brief around this course was, by its very nature, extremely specific, and we were mindful of the sensitivities involved. We have considerable experience in developing training for people who have challenging professional environments and working closely with our customers to help identify the right solution for them is always a key element. In this case we worked very closely with the CPS team to capture all the likely repercussions and consequences of being at the coal face of more extreme crimes.”

The workshops – of which there have now been 180 so far – take the form of a half-day session for up to eight CPS professionals at any one time.

Part of the ‘follow on’ process is to ensure all those attending the course then receive a Stage 2 contact after six weeks, and then an opportunity to refresh or revisit their learning after 12  months.

Mr Bivins added: “We have consistently received outstanding feedback from delegates on the training course, and we know it has made a significant difference to the way in which the staff have been able to process, and cope with, the scenarios they are dealing with every day.

“It is as a result of the client implementing this training that their approach to staff health and wellbeing has now been recognised at the highest level within their sector and we are enormously proud to have contributed to that.”

RehabWorks, which has offices around the UK, is now developing similar workshops for other so-called ‘blue light’ professionals.

“It stands to reason that, just like we’ve seen with the CPS staff, other emergency service professionals are at risk of mental health and wellbeing issues because of things they have to contend with on a daily basis,” commented Mr Bivins.

“I am extremely keen to hear from anyone in that sector who would like to know about our work with the CPS, and about how we can potentially help them proactively target potential Mental Health risks. It can never be underestimated just how important it is to respect the individual employee and to truly understand how they may personally be affected by what they see and experience in their daily professional life.”

RehabWorks is an evidence-based wellbeing business, with a focus on mental health, employee assistance programmes and musculoskeletal issues.

Earlier this year, it announced a merger with Crystal Palace Physio Group.

The company’s HQ is in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

For information about available training programmes, or to arrange a confidential discussion, please call 0333 222 0710.