Lead, Connect and Care Festival 2022 comes to a close, but it’s not too late to get involved
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it was recognised across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland health and social care organisations that there was a need to provide some additional, easy to access, wellbeing relief for our staff to counter the work pressures, and additional stress caused by the pandemic.
Dedicated funding was allocated to support recurring system-wide wellbeing events and it was noted that there is still very much a need for a comprehensive health and wellbeing offer for staff across the integrated care system.
This year’s Lead, Connect and Care Festival, which took place from 21st-25th June 2022 at a variety of venues across the County and City built on the success of last year’s inaugural festival with another week of planned sessions and activities. Open to health, social care, emergency services, local authority and charity sector colleagues, the event served as a way to remind our LLR workforce to take some time for their wellbeing and as a thank you for their continued hard work amid the ongoing challenges from the pandemic. The festival aimed to celebrate and explore the very best in leadership development, quality improvement and health and wellbeing. With the government’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing, this year the festival took place as a hybrid event with a combined face-to-face and virtual offer to allow staff the opportunity to connect and engage in-person with colleagues and session facilitators.
Featured on this year’s programme were development sessions such as:
- Compassionate leadership and leadership circles
- Being a change maker – Active Bystander programme and Your Voice
- Tips for managing your money
- Health inequalities, quality improvement and mental health
- Reproductive health and menopause awareness
There were also sessions designed to enhance wellbeing through movement and activity including guided walks, e-bike taster sessions, laughter yoga, and mindfulness.
To celebrate the end of the festival week, a family fun-day took place at Leicester Racecourse on Saturday 25th June, where there was range of family-friendly activities delivered by local partner organisations including:
- Rugby taster sessions from the Leicester Tigers Foundation
- Sport and activities from Active Oadby and Wigston
- Circus Skills and giant garden games
- Catering – BBQ, ice-cream, and hot drinks van
- Balloon modelling
- Exotic Petting Zoo
- Community Safety activities from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
- Information stalls and activities from local health and wellbeing providers/organisations
The fun-day was also a way to give back and thank our staff (and their families) for their great work and support for the system over the past two years. Take a look at some of the fantastic images from the day below.
Recordings from the virtual development sessions are now available on the LLR Academy YouTube channel, so if you missed any of the sessions or would like to refresh your knowledge and understanding, you will be able to catch up in your own time. Resources, including slide decks, can be found for the majority of sessions below.
Recordings from the in-person sessions that were livestreamed will be made available shortly. For more information, please contact Llrhw.leadconnectcarefestival@nhs.net
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