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Tuesday 10 October was World Mental Health Day, which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and this year’s theme was ‘mental health is a universal human right’.
To mark the day, we celebrated colleague Nisha Mustafa, a Family Support Worker, who, with the support of her Early Intervention Team, recently helped prevent a mother of one from taking her own life. Read our news story to find out more about this fantastic example of how collaboration can make a real difference.
Nisha and her colleague Rachel Odigie were nominated for a Star of the Month award for their joint team effort, and although they didn’t win, we simply had to shine a light on their great work which had a life-changing impact on a local resident.
If you missed our Mental Health First Aiders’ lunchtime well-being walk for staff from Lynton House to Valentines Park earlier this week, you can read about it in this news story and find out why they volunteer to support colleagues.
Mental health matters – check out the Mental Health Foundation website for additional useful resources to support yourself, your colleagues, friends, and family. Don’t forget – you can use our employee assistance helpline.
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We know many of our staff and local people have been deeply affected by terrible events in Israel and Palestine. Support is available for all of our staff. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your manager, one of our trained staff Mental Health First Aiders, our employee assistance programme, or members of our Staff Equality Networks.
Redbridge is proud to be home to diverse communities and we want to continue working together and looking after each other, to ensure that everyone feels welcome, valued, and safe.
Read our news story for more information.
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Our Star of the Month scheme celebrates colleagues who have gone that extra mile, whether that’s making a positive difference to the lives of local people or staff, delivering new ways of working, or stepping up in challenging work situations.
Nominations can be made using the online form but hurry, it closes this Sunday, 15 October.
A representative panel will choose the winner, who will be announced in the last week of October. The successful staff member will receive a personal ‘congratulations’ message from the Chief Executive, a special badge and automatically be included into an appropriate category for the Annual Staff Award. We’ll also be publicising the names of the winners with the reasons for their recognition each month through our internal comms channels.
Please visit the intranet for more information and get nominating!
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A few weeks ago, we mentioned that a team of Local Government Association (LGA) peer reviewers will be visiting the Council to conduct a Corporate Peer Challenge. The time has come – the peer review team will be visiting next Monday 16 October to Thursday 19 October 2023.
These reviews are improvement focused, tailored to meet individual councils’ needs and designed to complement and add value to a council’s own performance and improvement plans.
Find out more in our news story.
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Next Tuesday, 17 October, our Race Equality Network will be joined by Prudence Renders, Fatima George, and Pearl Cadogan who will share their life and experiences living under apartheid in South Africa. Join on Teams for an interesting talk from 11am to 12pm. Add to your calendar.
Colleagues from the BI Team will share data on the Black community in Redbridge and how it has changed over time, and explore some of the unique outcomes for this community. Learn something new from 11am to 12pm on Thursday 19 October. Add to your calendar
For all upcoming Black History Month events, visit the events calendar.
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If you work with residents, live in the borough, or have family and friends that do, spread the word about our Cost-of-Living marketplace event from 10am to 1pm on Thursday 19 October on the third floor in the Ilford Exchange shopping centre.
The Anti-Poverty Team, in collaboration with Work Redbridge and The Exchange Ilford, will be hosting the event. Local people can expect to receive information and advice on a range of important matters, including benefits, housing, debt, work, skills and training, and support for families with children.
The event is in aid of London Challenge Poverty Week which starts on Monday 16 and ends on Sunday 22 October. This year’s theme is ‘Dignity For All: a more hopeful future’ and is an opportunity for people to say what needs to change to enable communities to thrive. It's a chance to show that it is possible to build a better, more compassionate society in which everyone can live life to the full.
On the same day, the Prevent Team and the Metropolitan Police will have a joint presence at the Cost-of-Living marketplace event, aiming to promote the message of unity and tolerance during National Hate Crime Awareness Week which starts this Sunday, 14 October to 21 October. This collaborative effort illustrates our commitment to raising awareness about the devastating impact of hate crimes while fostering a sense of inclusivity and understanding within our community. Through informative materials and engaging conversations, they hope to ignite change and promote a society that stands firmly against intolerance.
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October is a busy and important month, raising awareness of many national campaigns, including World Menopause Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
World Menopause Day falls on Wednesday 18 October and raises awareness of the support options available for improving health and wellbeing throughout the menopause. Hormonal changes associated with menopause can have wide-ranging impacts on cardiovascular health which is why cardiovascular disease is this year's theme. For resources and upcoming events, visit the British Menopause Society website.
This year’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month is focusing on raising awareness around secondary breast cancer, which is when breast cancer spreads around the body. Next Friday 20 October, is the official Wear It Pink day and we’d love to see some shades of pink around the office and on Teams calls to show solidarity for an amazing cause.
The Staff Women’s Network will be holding a Women’s Health Event which will provide information on breast screening and menopause. More information coming soon! The event will take place on Thursday 2 November from 10am to 11.30am on the First Floor Business Lounge of Lynton House. Add to your calendar now so you don’t forget.
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To ensure that IT systems continue to operate effectively, essential maintenance is scheduled to take place on Sunday 15 October as detailed below:
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) – 8am to 12pm
- Netloan Service – 8am to 9am
- Always on VPN and DirectAccess for remote working – 12pm to 2pm
- Revenues & Benefits System – 8.30am to 10am
- Housing System – 9am to 4.30pm
- Planning – 9.30am to 11am
- Agresso – 10am to 12pm
There may also be some general disruption to other IT systems during this period (8am to 5pm). To minimise impact, we recommend that you avoid using these systems for those hours, but if you have no alternative then please ensure you save your work regularly.
Please contact ServiceNow IT if you have any further queries
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Have you heard of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Awards? They champion outstanding women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), and we want to take this opportunity to recognise and celebrate women in the council who work across these sectors.
If you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague, please send your draft nomination to the internal comms team and the Chief Executive’s office by 5pm, Friday 20 October. To increase the council’s chances of winning an award, we will review and provide feedback on how to strengthen your nomination.
There are several categories, including:
- The Princess Royal's WISE Rising Star Award
- The Princess Royal's WISE Lifetime Achievement Award
- EDI Champion Award
- STEM Ally Award
- STEM Leadership Award
- Nurturing New Talent Award
- STEM Returner Award
- WISE Outstanding Woman in Science Award
- WISE Outstanding Woman in Technology Award
- WISE Outstanding Woman in Engineering Award
For the first time, this year’s awards are endorsed by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, who has served as patron of WISE for 23 years.
The closing date for nominations is Friday 3 November 2023.
Visit the Wise website for more information.
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Are you managing projects for Redbridge? Do you want to gain a nationally recognised qualification in Project Management for free? If so, you can now join our Associate Project Manager Level 4 programme.
Learn the A - Z of starting and finishing projects, including the following:
- Project governance
- Stakeholder and communications management
- Budgeting and cost control
- Business case development
- Schedule management
- Risk and issue management
- Contract management and procurement
- Quality management
- Resource management
Plus many other project management essentials!
We want to invest in our staff to deliver the council’s key priorities. On completion, you can join the Association for Project Management (APM) and access a range of resources to support your team workstreams. Did we mention that development opportunity is fully funded?
If interested, please complete the application form by 5pm, Friday 20 October. You will then receive an invite to a selection of sessions, and an insight session to learn more.
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If you live in Redbridge, don’t forget our Green Garden Waste collections are stopping towards the end of October and will resume again next spring!
Week 1 collections end Friday 20 October, and Week 2 collections end Friday 27 October.
Check your collection week on our Redbridge Council website.
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