Well-being Policy

Last updated: 24th September 2024

This well-being policy is a statement of intent about looking after myself in my work.

The ethos of this policy is to remain active and alive. It may change from time to time as my circumstances change or my understanding of my well-being evolves.

1. Context and foundational principles

Purpose of this well-being policy:

This well-being policy aims to intentionally and regularly build up my well-being through activities and boundaries that resource me.

This is my attempt at defining and sharing the edges of my capacity and my needs around well-being in service of supporting myself and informing others. If you’re reading this, I would invite you to ask me how I’m looking after myself, and to consider how you might prioritise your own well-being in your working practice.

Foundational Principles:

  1. Time for others first requires some time for myself.
    I love to help others and I have talked openly about acknowledging the privilege I have to hold an emergent voice in my chosen profession. I have spoken about my desire not to just hold the door open behind me, but to carry a screwdriver and take any open doors open to me off their hinges so others may enter with ease. Doing this form of deconstructive DIY requires energy. Some activities that resource me include:

    • Going to the cinema on my own and switching my phone off

    • Wandering around art galleries and museums without a time limit

    • Spending time with my partner and our cats where I am fully present

    • Reading for pleasure / reading for insight

    • Seeing family and friends regularly and without distraction

    • Life drawing, painting, printmaking

    • Getting enough sleep, or at least setting myself up for the possibility

    • Making books and writing in them

  2. The majority of my work is emotionally and cognitively demanding

    Setting the time aside to do the work is not enough. I also need regular time to reflect, to rest, and to recover

  3. I have a chronic health condition and I need to plan around it

    Despite knowing that my energy is cyclical and that I require treatment every 8 weeks for the rest of my life, I have never considered planning my work around my health

  4. I have multiple professional identities, which requires me to be deliberate and firm in planning my time

    My time is not more important than anyone else’s time, but it is limited and I need to protect myself from overwhelm

  5. I have a life outside of work which needs tending to like a beautiful garden

    In 2023 there were weeks where I offered complete strangers more attentive time than I gave to my own partner, who I live with

  6. I am doing a PhD

    Outside of my professional commitments, I am undertaking a part-time PhD investigating the influence of arts-based approaches in coaching supervision on coach-practitioner development and identity. During the initial few months, I was mainly reading and reflecting, which allowed my PhD to merge around the edges of my commitments. Now that I am undertaking research and spending my time writing, as well as reading and reflecting, I need dedicated and protected space to work on my projects.

  7. I volunteer my time to my chosen profession

    Sometimes I forget that I am already offering time, experience and expertise to other coaches through my voluntary roles. Whilst I cannot sustainably offer the same volume of individual support in the future, I am indirectly helping others and the wider profession through my volunteering and my research

2. My Commitments

In order to look after my well-being, here are some of the intentions I am setting for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, in line with the foundational principles of this policy. I have deliberately chosen ‘intentions’ rather than ‘actions’ as I am trying to exercise kindness to myself around what’s possible in theory vs. reality:

2024 Intentions:

  • Time for others first requires some time for myself

    • Having successfully taken a solo trip to Copenhagen in September 2024 to mark the one year anniversary of starting my PhD, I am committing to making this an annual opportunity for time away for myself

    • I’ve signed up for a film pass at my local cinema which gives me unlimited monthly cinema tickets, and I am committing to watching at least one film at the cinema per month in 2024

    • I’ve deleted my work emails and professional apps (e.g., LinkedIn) from my phone. I notice that I still sometimes log in to these through my browser, and I’m trying to ease myself out of this without judgement

    • I’ve organised my creative materials to make it easeful to pick up a new project or create a one-off piece. I haven’t created much in 2024, but I’m gradually adding a little more time each week for illustration and other creativity

  • The majority of my work is emotionally and cognitively demanding

    • I have a 15-30 minute ‘inhale’ and a 45 minute ‘exhale’ surrounding each coaching or supervision session, including sessions where I am the client

    • I have limited my total number of coaching / supervision sessions to 3 per day with a maximum of 10 per week

  • I have a chronic health condition and I need to plan around it

    • I am no longer offering any coaching or supervision sessions in the weeks where I have my treatment (every 8 weeks) and I am working to limit the amount of meetings and face-to-face work during these weeks

    • I am taking the Monday following my treatment off completely (this is usually a freelance / PhD day) to ensure I am setting myself up for the next 8 weeks sustainably

  • I have multiple professional identities, which require me to be deliberate and firm in planning my time

    • Instead of being incredibly flexible and accommodating, I am going to exhaust all other avenues before moving planned time for my chosen activities in my diary. This includes time for myself (see point 1)

  • I have a life outside of work which needs tending to like a beautiful garden

    • Friday evenings and Saturdays are sacred spaces reserved for spending time with my partner - whether we choose to do something or whether we choose to sit in our pyjamas and eat takeaway food

    • I have planned regular breaks and holidays from work and will continue to share what I’m using that time for in my out-of-office responses. This is to communicate that I have a life outside of my working identity and it’s important to me

    • Having ended up running supervision groups from two different holidays, I will be limiting group supervision availability across July / August 2025

  • I am doing a PhD

    • I have blocked out Sundays and Tuesdays from 10am onwards in my diary until March 2026, when I will review the needs of my PhD vs. my current way of working. I am no longer willing or able to flex my dedicated PhD time to accommodate meetings or activities.

  • I volunteer my time to my chosen profession

    • Instead of offering multiple slots every week for free drop-in conversations of varying lengths, I am offering a number of 15 minute intentional slots for ad hoc conversations across one week, and only every other month. My calendly availability for these slots contains wording to support anyone booking that time to understand that I am completely happy to use that time to help, and do not need the ‘exchange’ to be in balance (unless they specifically have something they want to offer me)

    • I have booked regular time in my calendar to fulfil my voluntary responsibilities and I am treating these slots as protected time

    • If any more urgent requests for my time come in (i.e., where there is a fixed deadline or decision required), I will assess my capacity and availability on a case-by-case basis

3. Reviewing this Policy

The ethos of this policy is to remain active and alive. It may change from time to time as my circumstances change or my understanding of my well-being evolves. I am committing to a review of my progress against these intentions every 6 months, with updates to this policy as required.