Wellbeing action plans

A simple, practical way of helping you to support the mental health of your young members and volunteer team.

Wellbeing action plans are a simple and practical way of proactively helping you to support the mental health of your young members and volunteer team by promoting their wellbeing.

They can also be used support your own mental health.

Who are they for?

Everyone and anyone can complete a wellbeing action plan. They are a personalised, practical tool we can all use and benefit from.

Whether it's you, or someone we're supporting who is experiencing challenges or problems with mental health, the plan just means that practical steps can be put in place to ensure that everyone is supported when they aren't feeling at their best.

The plan helps to identify:

  • What keeps us well
  • What causes or triggers us to become unwell
  • The support we would like to receive from our leaders, commissioners or volunteer colleagues

By giving volunteers and members an opportunity to complete a wellbeing action plan, they will be able to gain an awareness of what works or doesn’t work for them and plan accordingly.

You then have an idea of the tailored support that could help them, or at the least a tool to use in starting that potentially important conversation.

How to use the plan

You could start by giving your volunteer or young member, if this is appropriate for their age, a copy of a wellbeing action plan and asking them to have a go at completing it.

Then schedule some time in afterwards to discuss their plan with you and finalise it based on the conversation you've had.

The plan should be written by (or written for them in their words) and owned by the individual, expressing their own personal choices, experience and needs. Try to avoid influencing them by offering your own advice or suggestions.

You might feel that through having this conversation, there are possible barriers raised that may need reasonable adjustments. In this case, it would be a good idea to complete an adjustment form with the individual. You can find information on these on our Making adjustments webpage.

What if there is a risk of harm?

The plan and its contents are confidential, but be honest that you might have to share information if you feel there's any risk to themselves or others.

It's your responsibility to seek advice and support from your commissioner or the Safeguarding team and to follow the process for reporting an allegation, concern or disclosure.

If there's any imminent risk of harm, you must contact emergency services. Then report this to the HQ safeguarding team.

You can contact the HQ Safeguarding team:

  • +44 20 7834 6242, 9am-5pm Monday-Friday excl. bank holidays.
  • For safeguarding emergencies only - out of hours emergency phone: +44 07508 032997, 5pm-10pm Monday-Friday; 9am-10pm weekends and English bank holidays.
  • Email [email protected]