Promoting physical and mental wellbeing: RCSI Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

To ensure that its staff members’ physical and mental wellbeing is looked after, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) has led several initiatives to enhance the remote working experience for staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The RCSI Bahrain Human Resources department, led by the Head of Human Resources, Gary Brady, along with the HR department in RCSI in Dublin, launched the #RCSItogether initiative under which a bi-weekly email bulletin was sent out to support staff members and help them in maintaining work/life balance while working from home.

The bulletin featured advice for self-care, research articles, podcasts and different online resources with key themes of learning, health science, tips for caring for others and information on how to look after one’s health and wellbeing.

In addition, the bulletin featured spotlights on wellbeing to remind staff members to disconnect from smartphones and devices to avoid “technology fatigue”, keep meetings short and avoid reaching out to colleagues outside of working hours.

In further efforts to support the challenges of working remotely, the HR department offered an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), through which a confidential counselling service by an accredited therapist, external to the University, is provided for all staff.

Additionally, with staff members not having face-to-face interactions with their colleagues, the department implemented the ‘Virtual Majlis’, where staff members who sign up are randomly assigned to groups of three with colleagues from across the university for a virtual informal chat.

On the physical aspect of wellbeing, RCSI Bahrain collaborated with RCSI in Dublin to launch a ‘Steps to Health – Bahrain to Dublin’ challenge