Case Study 1 – NHS Black Country & West Birmingham CCGs

Tranceform became an approved supplier of mental health at work support services to the management and staff of the Sandwell & West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (SWBCCG) in January 2018.

At that time, the group had approximately 200 staff members. In 2020 NHS England began to develop a new model for how the NHS services are delivered and managed across the region which has seen the creation of a new, amalgamated team across the Black Country in which four CCG’s (Sandwell and West Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton) are coming together under the umbrella of the ‘Black Country’ banner meaning the overall team will comprise of around 600 staff.

Service Delivery

Tranceform have delivered several training and supports services since being commissioned in 2018 including:

1. One-to-one delivery of the ‘Thriving at Work‘ programme – this has encompassed team members participating in the programme at our offices in Wombourne, South Staffs. At January 2020 over 60 team members have followed the programme with Tranceform!

(Read what Alice McGee, Director of HR and Organisational Development for the group said about working with Tranceform in the area of well-being in the testimonial at the bottom of the page)

2. In-house delivery of three training seminars for groups of up to 20 staff, across 3 different programme titles, namely:

a) Me, Myself & I – A half-day seminar designed to allow participants to gain an understanding of the foundational philosophy of ‘subjective reality’ as well as the active measurement of the three core domains of ‘intra-personal’, ‘Inter-personal’ and ‘Contextual’ experiences that provide a good measure of individual ‘resilience‘ to life stressors. This seminar also provides tips and advice on how these key areas can be improved.

b) Surviving v Thriving – A Full day seminar designed to highlight HOW participants may be limiting their ability to cope with stress and anxiety in the workplace and in their private lives, by the adoption of ‘limiting beliefs‘ or limiting paradigms which frequently lead to the creation of ‘unhelpful thinking styles‘. This programme also highlights how to develop and use a more effective set of coping skills and tools in order to begin ‘Thriving’ in a wider sense and in diverse situations.

c) Creating a Line of Sight – A half-day seminar which highlights how our perceptions (in various domains) can be significantly modified by both conscious and unconscious confirmation biases and biological, evolutionary processes. Developing an awareness of these potential distortions can lead to the ability to make better judgement when faced with challenges and difficulties.

NHS Feedback

Alice McGee, Director of Human Resources and Head of Organisational Development for the group said:

Working with Tranceform in Our Organisation

NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG is an organisation that prides itself in looking after its staff and developing them; both with the skills to do their job and the tools to be resilient.

In 2018 we trialled the Thriving at Work programme in two ways: small group introductions to the programme and one to one attendance on the 10 week programme.

We could not have predicted the phenomenal response to this programme and the positive impact it has had for our staff and our organisation.

With a large scale launch of the programme, the feedback and recommendations spoke for themselves and requests to attend the programme grew beyond our expectations and became the hallmark of our positive and proactive support for staff.

The personal programme has supported our staff in a number of ways; confidence, resilience, proactive self-care, ability to challenge themselves and the organisation in a positive way.

The wider impact of the personal development has meant that there is a critical mass of staff who are able to lead others, both formally and informally, in a way that has ensured that we have a resilient workforce that can approach thinking to challenges in a different way – solution based, positive impact and resilient.

Most notably the programme has become the first proactive well being programme that staff are accessing before going into personal crisis, this means that staff are personally looking after themselves and proactively accessing support in a way that enables them to shift thinking before the stresses of life and work becomes unmanageable – which has also enabled them to support others to do the same.

I cannot recommend enough this programme and Paul himself to support any organisation where it recognises the importance of its people at the heart of its success.

Alice McGee

Director of HR & OD, Black Country & West Birmingham NHS CCGs