Ready for something new?
Here at the Reading Revolution we are now offering a new programme “Workplace Wellness” for the first time in New Zealand. The article below demonstrates how this programme has been successfully implemented in the UK by The Reader.
Shared Reading can help your organisation meet its targets for supporting staff wellness in a fun and accessible environment. Our groups are fully inclusive of all abilities.
Your workplace can be a place for meaningful connection between colleagues fostering stronger teams and healthier individuals.
The Mental Health Foundation states that:
“One in six New Zealand adults (16%, or an estimated 582,000 adults) had been diagnosed with a common mental disorder at some time in their lives (including depression, bipolar disorder and/or anxiety disorder).
Approximately 20% want more social contact.
31% of New Zealanders felt lonely a little, some, most, or all of the time in the last month.
Only 53% of residents from six large New Zealand cities, felt a sense of community with people in their local neighbourhood.”
Please contact us to learn more about the programme.
[email protected]
“Just six minutes of reading per day can reduce stress by up to 68%“
University of Sussex, 2009
Shared Reading brings people together in small groups, a story or poem is read aloud and a trained Reader Leader facilitates discussion. Through this simple approach participants report real personal and professional benefits.
Organisations across the UK, from hospitals and recovery centres to housing associations, retailers and global law firms, have partnered with us to experience our innovative approach to well-being and personal development in the workplace.Read more: Shared Reading & Employee Well-being and PerformanceRead more: Shared Reading & Community Investment
Shared Reading can work within and beyond the workplace, aligning with both HR and community investment agendas. Designed to generate maximum impact in the most cost-effective ways we offer bespoke training courses or can provide a package of Shared Reading for your organisation.
*of 31 responses, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, July 2016.
Appropriate for staff at all levels, we provide a range of Reader services:
- Bespoke Shared Reading sessions, delivered by the expert Reading Revolution staff.
- Training and support packages to enable your staff to deliver groups themselves, in the workplace or in the community.
Employee well-being and performance
Encouraging staff to adopt and maintain healthier lifestyles and investing in workplace wellness brings real business benefit. Mental Health related illness is the leading cause of sickness absence in the UK with over 15 million days lost due to stress, depression and anxiety.
Shared Reading groups provide a welcoming, relaxed, creative space in which employees can connect with literature and to each other. Groups can start to think and feel differently as a result of the stimulus literature offers.
Shared Reading is a practical way of:
- improving well-being
- decreasing stress
- improving confidence and job satisfaction
- building deeper connections between colleagues
- building stronger, more resilient workplaces
During a pilot project with the Liverpool office of DLA Piper, 100% of participants agreed that Shared Reading helped them relax and that it provided a meaningful way of engaging with their co-workers.
“It was a really useful opportunity to get to know a bit more about my colleagues that I hadn’t really interacted with before. I loved the literature that we read but it was the experience that felt even more important – the sharing and bonding aspect was really valuable.“
Thomas Prince, Associate Solicitor at DLA Piper
Learning new things and adopting a growth mindset leads employees to become more confident and more productive. Our Shared Reading groups also support the development of a wide range of skills including communication, confidence, problem solving and creative thinking and can provide a platform for professional development and job enrichment.
“Brilliant and inspiring. Powerful way beyond my expectations.“
Employee, Phoenix Futures, National Charity and Housing Association tackling substance mis-use, 700 employees
Read more: Cultural Value: Assessing the intrinsic value of The Reader’s Shared Reading Scheme
Community Investment
Shared Reading is proven to improve well-being, reduce social isolation, develop skills and build resilience in diverse communities across the UK. This simple yet powerful tool brings people together and can help deliver a range of community investment priorities.
In 2011, The Reader partnered with global retailers Tesco to develop an innovative and sustainable community well-being project where over 100 Tesco Community Champions were trained to deliver Shared Reading sessions in their local community – in stores, local care homes, community centres, libraries and church halls.
“I never knew I was capable of something like this; it’s been fantastic.“
Tesco Community Champion
Reader Story: Lindsay, Tesco
There are a number of ways through which you could bring Shared Reading into your local communities including:
- Offering a training package for your staff to become Reader Leaders, providing them with a flexible, rewarding volunteering opportunity that delivers community benefit whilst building their skills.
- Sponser your local community partners to access Shared Reading training and support in order to embed it within their own services.
