Health & Wellbeing

Supporting humanitarian action often takes you to challenging high-risk locations where you work hard to enable change for others. It's important to look after yourself in order to continue helping those in need. 

In this section you'll find support for your own health and wellbeing, as well as links and courses on resilience.   

We recognise that our staff are often exposed to stressful situations operating in high-risk locations, and that the threat of COVID-19 is an added pressure. We created CTG Wellbeing to provide extra support for our staff and offer two mechanisms for remote counselling.

Wellbeing First Aiders (WFAs)

The first is through members of the CTG team who can support you if you are going through a challenging time. They are called Wellbeing First Aiders (WFAs).

Why Choose Wellbeing First Aiders? While they are not professional counsellors or psychologists, they are members of the CTG team, a friendly ear, someone to turn to who is aware of the challenges consultants face. They have all been trained to provide short-term support and refer you on to further resources or professional help if needed. This is the correct option for you if you are stressed but it is before you’ve reached crisis point.

Find out more about WFAs and how to book a slot with them here.

Professional Counsellors

The second option gives you access to independent professional counsellors from Open Briefing who have backgrounds within the humanitarian and development sector, with an understanding of the kind of challenges staff face every day.

Why Choose Professional Counselling ? This is the option to choose if you are going through severe stress that is impacting your mental health, if you feel that you are at crisis point, or if you feel more comfortable with professional counsellors. They will assist you on how best to cope and find a way forward.

CTG Wellbeing provides 6 counselling sessions and a further 6 sessions after a traumatic event, at no cost to the consultant. Sessions are available in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

If you work for CTG you can book your free counselling sessions by sending an email to ctgwellbeing@openbriefing.org

To find out more, click here.

Wellness and Resilience for Frontline Workers and Managers

This course will assist you in understanding the impact that stress is having on your lives and how to build personal and organisational resilience. By the end of the course, you will have developed a personal action plan and increased knowledge of various wellness and resilience techniques to apply during stressful situations.

Staff Care and Wellbeing

Wellbeing and mental health support are crucial to enable our team members to work effectively in their roles. As Field Managers, it is our moral obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, this is known as our duty of care. This course is designed to improve your wellbeing knowledge.

FIELD Visit Challenge - Leading and Managing People in Emergencies

This scenario-based module is designed to help you support and improve the wellbeing of your staff teams, as well as maintaining your own wellbeing. You will be presented with a number of wellbeing scenarios to test your understanding of the topics staff care and wellbeing, safeguarding & equality, diversity and inclusion.

Staying Healthy

Learn how to maintain your physical and mental capabilities through simple, practical advice that is easy to apply.