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As part of Blue Cabin’s commitment to investing in its people, the charity offers its core team a £250 annual learning and wellbeing budget to spend as they wish.
This year, team members have chosen to spend their budgets on a huge range of experiences and learning opportunities, including:
Jenny Young, Blue Cabin director, said: “The work that our team delivers can be emotionally intensive and we recognise our responsibility to create the conditions in which people can do this work safely, thoughtfully and sustainably. Everything we do is underpinned by trauma-informed principles reflected in our One Small Thing Bronze accreditation. This applies not only to how we work with care experienced children, young people and partners, but also to how we support our team.
“Our learning and wellbeing budget is one practical part of this commitment giving team members opportunities to invest in their wellbeing, learning and development in ways that are meaningful to them.
“Alongside reflective and therapeutic supervision, supportive line management and opportunities to come together as a team, the budget recognises that people need space to reflect, recharge, learn and step away from the demands of their day-to-day work.
“We see this as part of being a responsible and caring employer, and as an investment in the sustainability and quality of our work. Supporting people’s wellbeing helps them to remain engaged in their work, continue developing their practice and bring care, creativity and thoughtfulness to the relationships at the heart of Blue Cabin.
“We also encourage opportunities to spend time outdoors in nature, where this supports individual well being. This compliments our wider environmental commitment, in line with our Investors in the Environment Silver accreditation.
“For us, investment in staff learning and wellbeing is not an optional extra: it is part of the infrastructure that enables our team to undertake complex and emotionally demanding work well and sustainably.”
Dawn Williams, who is Blue Cabin’s strategy lead, spent some of her budget on a season ticket for an outdoor pool in Haltwhistle, Northumberland:
“Being able to buy a season ticket at Haltwhistle Pool has been such a gift.
“River swimming will always be my happy place. It’s where I feel most like myself – immersed in nature, sharing the water with fish, watching birds overhead and willow trees reflected on the surface. I’m usually on my own, and I love that quiet space. It helps me slow down, breathe deeply and feel connected to something much bigger than the everyday rush.
“Haltwhistle Pool gives me something completely different, and I’ve realised I need both. It’s where I swim lengths, switch my mind off in a different way, and enjoy the simple rhythm of moving through the water. It’s also become a place of conversation and connection. Meeting people for a swim, then chatting over coffee and cake afterwards, has brought so much joy. Those conversations and shared moments have become just as important as the swimming itself.
“Having both the river and the pool means I have two very different ways to look after myself. One nourishes my soul through solitude and nature, the other lifts my spirits through movement and routine.
“I’m so grateful that Blue Cabin invested in something that has genuinely enriched my life. It’s given me more than a season of swimming – it’s given me space to reconnect with other mermaids I haven’t seen since lockdown!”
Meanwhile, project manager, Jane Gray, chose online piano lessons, explaining: “Being able to spend the Blue Cabin wellbeing budget enabled me to get back to something I loved when I was younger – playing the piano. Our piano had sat, unplayed, for a number of years, and I struggled to restart by myself.
“I saw an online intensive ‘adult returner’ course with a teacher, that I was able to do because of the wellbeing budget. I enjoyed it so much, and get on so well with the teacher, that I now have ongoing lessons, partly supported by the wellbeing budget. It’s one hour every other week where I can just focus on playing, and let everything else go. It’s time to be creative and to learn new things, in a completely different way to the work I do.
“It’s really appreciated and valued.”
Lucy Ridley, who spent her budget on reformer pilates lessons and gym membership, said: “It feels like Blue Cabin values the whole person, not just the person they see at work. That support has given me the space to take my Pilates practice to the next level, which I absolutely love. It’s the one time my brain truly switches off from work and family life – there’s something about holding a plank that demands your full attention!”
This investment in staff learning and wellbeing aligns with Blue Cabin’s values and reflects the organisation’s ways of working, as director Jenny Young explains:
“The fact that we believe in the value of investing in our team is one of our values. And I’m proud that we can pinpoint multiple ways that we demonstrate this in action – not only through our wellbeing budget but also through paid training opportunities for staff and freelancers, paid supervision and reflection time, and our commitment to fair pay.
“It’s also important that we don’t dictate what people spend their learning and wellbeing budget on, and you can see the result of that in the range of choices people have made. As long as it’s something that people feel will add to their learning and wellbeing then we are happy to support their choice.”
