Cancer Support UK’s innovative workplace cancer support training is helping Torbay Council actively demonstrate its commitment to the wellbeing of its own workforce, as well as residents
Many Torbay Council’s Cancer Support Ambassadors have experience of cancer and are passionate about supporting colleagues with a cancer diagnosis
As cancer diagnosis numbers continue to increase, more organisations are recognising the need to provide emotional support for staff and customers who are impacted by cancer. A number of local authorities and central government departments have undertaken cancer-specific workplace training from Cancer Support UK to address this growing challenge. Torbay Council is one of the latest organisations to put in place this type of training, to ensure that no-one impacted by cancer feels isolated and unsupported.
About Torbay Council
Torbay Council is a Unitary local authority, encompassing the coastal towns of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay in Devon. It’s a glorious area, known as The English Riviera, with an inspiring natural environment, which not surprisingly is a magnet for tourists. Torbay is also home to globally significant technology businesses and has a rich leisure and cultural scene.
Serving a population of over 139,000, the council provides a range of services including education, highways, waste and recycling, economic regeneration, library services, registration services and planning.
The council’s mission is to put residents at the heart of everything it does and this caring attitude extends to its employees, whose wellbeing at work is a priority. The council provides a Counselling and Employee Assistance Programme to ensure that everyone can thrive at work. It also holds regular wellbeing sessions covering a range of topics with talks from inspirational speakers and health experts. Staff have access to a trained network of wellbeing supporters.
Torbay is a unitary authority, which encompasses the towns of Torquay, pictured, Paignton and Brixham
Key statistics
- 87% of line managers said they have not been given any training on how to support people with long term conditions including cancer. (Source Macmillan).
- 92% of patients believe the support they get at work positively impacts their health (Source: Publicis custom research).
- By 2030, it’s estimated that 1.15 million people of working age people will be living with cancer. With 85% of employees stating it was important for them to keep working after diagnosis. Source: Unumn
The challenge
Torbay Council is one of the largest employers in the area, with around 1,300 staff. The council has an ageing workforce with a higher than average number of staff over the age of 40. Faced with growing numbers of staff with cancer in need of emotional support, the council recognised that a better understanding of cancer was needed across the organisation. In addition, direct action was required to give specialist support to line-managers and other employees who required training in order to effectively and confidently help colleagues living with cancer through treatment and recovery.
The solution:
Following discussion with Cancer Support UK, Torbay Council took its first step to improve the internal level of knowledge and awareness of cancer within the council.
Florence Hocking, HR Business Partner – Health & Wellbeing, asked Cancer Support UK to deliver a high level introduction to cancer to staff at the council on 23 November 2023.
The session was a great success, but Florence didn’t want it to be just a one-off piece of learning. She wanted to develop the council’s cancer supportive skills further still.
“The Introduction to Communicating about Cancer seminar was a good starting point to such an emotive topic,” says Florence. “The session went down very well with colleagues and helped us think about how to support colleagues impacted by cancer, but I wanted to put something more permanent in place. People are staying in work longer, so we have an aging workforce with an increased likelihood of developing cancer. We already have Menopause Champions and Wellbeing Champions. So we thought it was a good idea to train up a new group of champions. Cancer Support UK’s Workplace Cancer Support Ambassador training was clearly a great fit for the council and an excellent way of providing additional support.”
What did Torbay Council learn?
Both training sessions were delivered by one of our highly experienced coaches, who work with cancer patients on a frequent basis and so have a unique insight into the thoughts and emotions of people living with and beyond cancer.
- Knowledge of different types of cancer and cancer treatment
- The physical and emotional side effects of cancer
- Communication skills – including the importance of language and how to have supportive conversations around cancer
- How to look after yourself following difficult conversations
- Empathy v sympathy
- Practical exercises and tools to have supportive conversations
- Signposting to additional support
Additional support for Torbay Council
Cancer Support UK will provide further support to Torbay’s Ambassadors in the form of follow-up refresher training, as well as the Workplace Cancer Support Ambassador Champion Network, which provides ongoing education and support from Cancer Support UK experts. There is also the opportunity to network with other organisational leads and share valuable learning experiences.
The outcome:
Torbay Council now has a greater organisational understanding and awareness of the issues facing colleagues who are living with and beyond cancer.
The training has helped create a more caring workplace environment for employees affected by cancer and enabled better, more supportive conversations to take place. In turn this can improve staff morale, motivation and loyalty.
Having the ability to support people with cancer while they are working helps reduce staff turnover and recruitment costs for the council.
There are currently nine trained Workplace Cancer Support Ambassador volunteers in place across the council. These ambassadors are now equipped with the knowledge, confidence, tools and strategies to provide effective emotional support to colleagues affected by cancer.
Florence Hocking outlines the many benefits gained by undertaking the cancer support training:
“It’s very rewarding having Workplace Cancer Support Ambassadors in place. We know that colleagues impacted by cancer really appreciate being able to talk to someone who is completely removed from their daily life and with whom there is no emotional connection.
“Our new Workplace Cancer Support Ambassadors are a terrific group. Many have experience of cancer, whether personally or through family or friends and just want to help others. They’re really passionate about their role and extremely supportive of each other as well as their colleagues with cancer.
“Our ambassadors are drawn from different levels from across most of our services and many didn’t know each other before becoming Ambassadors. Yet now they meet every month to problem solve and share ideas about their work. They continuously review how the support they offer can be developed and get involved in cancer prevention and awareness days
“The presence of trained Ambassadors across the council demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to wellbeing and shows that we really do want to help people.
“Our Workplace Cancer Support Ambassadors are now more confident in their ability to have more supportive conversations around cancer.”
Testimonials
Introduction to Communicating about Cancer
“A really powerful session with a good overview of cancer and cancer treatments along with practical tips we can all take away to help us support others.”
“It was good to hear the perspective from someone with experience and raise awareness of things to do and say and those not to.”
“Great session!”
Workplace Cancer Support Ambassador training
“I liked the fact that this training was very interactive, and I believe very useful because of that it made me think a lot about how I will approach this role and what will be helpful, and not so for anyone who seeks this support from me. Thank you Dorothy.”
“…overall very good training.”
“Our training was thought provoking, authentic and supportive; a reassuring reminder to be available for sensitive and practical support and a guide to the fundamentals: Compassion. Comfort. Connection.”
Key takeaways
Florence Hocking acknowledges that much work is needed to embed the presence of the Workplace Cancer Support Ambassadors within the council and to raise the profiles of this group of volunteers.
“It takes time to establish awareness and it’s up to us to promote this service continuously, as much as much as we can, in a variety of ways, including:
- Ensuring that each of the Workplace Cancer Support Ambassadors has a profile on our intranet
- Featuring them in internal newsletters
- Hosting get to know us events
- Putting out calls for volunteers on communications channels – we outlined what was expected in this role and then met people individually to assess the skills they would bring to the role.
“It’s really important that we support each other as a group and celebrate our achievements. We recently had a get together of all our support groups and our Chief Executive Anne-Marie Bond gave thank you cards to everyone.
“We need to keep developing this role and to think about what we do next. There are a number of ways, we are doing this:
- We will keep an eye on mental health and wellbeing developments within the local community and will support the community
- It’s vital that we recognise that people have different interests. So we need to acknowledge that while some people will prefer supporting colleagues one to one, others will enjoy promoting the group and getting involved in awareness campaigns.
- It’s important we recognise that the capacity to be involved varies – these are busy people, with many demands on their time.
- “We’re measuring the impact our Ambassadors are having and keep an activity log to monitor the numbers of colleagues supported.
“We now have a good understanding of the skills set that is required to be a supportive and effective Cancer Support Ambassador. You need to be:
- A good listener
- Empathetic as opposed to sympathetic
- Able to ensure complete confidentiality, yet know when to intervene/share if there are issues
- Above all you must be supportive