In this guest blog, Leeds Mindful Employer Network member Northpoint, which has recently signed the Mindful Employer Charter, tells us about Northpoint’s mental health at work journey.
Who is Northpoint?
We’re a charity providing a range of talking and digital therapies to children, young people, and adults across Yorkshire and the surrounding areas. We work in partnership with the NHS, local authority and other third sector providers to deliver accessible, high-quality mental health support.
As a mental health organisation, we’re committed to creating environments that promote, support, and improve the mental health of our clients. We also recognise the importance of applying that same commitment to the wellbeing of our staff.
Northpoint employees having a great time together at their Staff Conference
Building connection and belonging in a post-Covid world
In late 2023, we formed a staff wellbeing working group, with the aim of increasing opportunities for staff to come together, feel connected, supported, and valued in a post-Covid world. The group led our decision to join the Mindful Employer Network, aligning with our organisational values and supporting the delivery of our 2023–2026 strategy.
A key priority of that strategy is to ensure we stand out as a brilliant place to work, with people placed at the heart of our organisation. Joining the network was an important first step in achieving this goal.
Translating Commitment into Action
Through the network, we’ve gained access to local support and practical tools, such as the Ten Steps Toolkit, which has helped us engage staff in meaningful conversations about workplace wellbeing and launched our co-produced staff mental health and wellbeing action plan. We’re also pleased to report that we’ve begun to implement actions on this plan, with our recent annual staff conference being centered around inclusion and belonging.
We’ve embedded wellbeing champions across all teams and trained our Central Services colleagues in mental health first aid. In addition, we launched a virtual staff intranet ‘Hub’, which has significantly improved internal communication around workplace mental health by offering practical resources and support to help staff manage their wellbeing.
We also use the Hub to promote our wellbeing-related policies and employee assistance programmes, following feedback from colleagues who weren’t sure how to access them. To further strengthen communication across the organisation, we’ve established a staff voice group to complement our existing wellbeing group. This initiative helps foster a culture where staff feel empowered to share their ideas and feedback openly – one recent success being the creation of a peer support group for neurodiverse colleagues.
Embedding Wellbeing as a Continuous Priority
We’re still early on in our staff wellbeing journey. While we’re proud to have made great progress so far, we’re still learning.
Northpoint employees taking back in a Sustainable Coaster making workshop.
Supporting staff wellbeing isn’t just good practice—it’s essential to the work we do. When our team is well-supported, they’re better able to support others. It also helps us maintain a positive working environment, reduce burnout, and retain skilled professionals in a demanding field – but we’re not naive in thinking that all this will
happen overnight.
Some of the biggest challenges we face are balancing high service demand with staff wellbeing and keeping remote, hybrid and co-located teams engaged and feeling supported. To overcome these challenges, we’re embedding wellbeing into team meetings, line management supervisions, and performance and development reviews. We’ll be continuously evaluating our wellbeing strategies and initiatives based on staff voice and input.
Signing the Mindful Employer Charter is a recent milestone for us. It reflects our commitment to improving how we support staff and to being open about the challenges people may face. It’s also a way of holding ourselves accountable as we continue to develop our approach.
Thank you so much to Northpoint for sharing the journey with us!
Find out more about becoming a Mindful Employer Charter Signatory here.
Check out our 10 steps toolkit for building a mentally healthy workplace here.
If you’d like to share your wellbeing at work journey, drop us a line at mindfulemployer@leedsmind.org.uk
