Staff Care and Wellbeing

Building Healthy Habits

Be Connected
Pre-Deployment

Build a strong support network of family and friends from home

Prepare your family and friends for your deployment, let them know where you will be,
what you will be doing and how you can be contacted
During Deployment

Stay in touch with them while you are on deployment

Build relationships with your colleagues in the field, they are likely to have experienced
the struggles you are facing
Talk to your manager and use any services your organization can provide
Post-Deployment

Catch up with family and friends, but don’t expect them to understand what you have
experienced
Speak to people about your experiences, when you feel ready
Watch this video from the Mental Health Foundation to find out more.

Be Active
Pre-Deployment

 Get into an exercise routine, that you can adapt when you are deployed

 During Deployment

 Exercise adapted to the context, try some emergency yoga, or a Body Coach workout

for when you have limited space and equipment

Post-Deployment
  Continue your exercise routine, it can help you fall back into a normal routine when
you are adapting to life away from the field
 Try a new sport, you may find something you didn’t know you liked!

Be Aware
Pre-Deployment

 Work on skills that will help you cope in the field, meditation and controlled breathing
are good skills to practice

During Deployment

 Schedule time each day to rest, exercise, mediate or pray, use apps, such
as Headspace for meditation or Aaptiv for exercise to music
 Be aware of your warning signs of stress and talk to someone if you start to display
symptoms
 Monitor the time you spend on self-care using this resource from the Headington
Institute, make sure it is enough
 Keep a private journal about your thoughts, feelings and emotions or why not even try
using an app for example Gratitude to log the things you are grateful for every day

Post-Deployment

 Catch up on sleep and give yourself (and your brain) time to recover enough to get
back into a regular daily routine
 Acknowledge the physical and chemical imbalances from working long hours in a
stressful environment and aim to recover a sense of balance