Prisons as Workplaces
This web page brings together resources to support you to apply for the ‘Prisons as Workplaces’ element of the Bereavement Charter Mark for Prisons.
General information
The Bereavement-Friendly Workplaces Toolkit has a range of resources for staff, senior management and HR that can be helpful when working towards the Bereavement Charter Mark for Prisons as Workplaces. It can be accessed here: Scottish Bereavement Friendly Workplaces Toolkit
The Scottish Prison Service provides the following support and guidance for staff: Scottish Prison Service Employee Wellbeing and Performance Hub (NB: this links to an internal site - you won’t be able to access it from outside SPS)
The SPS online learning platform MYLO provides courses on Psychological First Aid for staff and managers:
- General - Course: Psychological First Aid - General
- Taking care of yourself - Course: Psychological First Aid - Staff Wellbeing Taking Care of Yourself
- For managers - Course: Psychological First Aid - Wellbeing of Teams for Managers
Applying the Staff Bereavement Policy
In developing an action plan to improve the application of the staff bereavement policy within your prison, you could consider:
- identifying examples of when the prison has done well at supporting a bereaved staff member, and sharing these so that managers can see what is considered good practice within the prison.
- ensuring that relevant documents relating to the bereavement policy are easily available, and reminding staff where they can be accessed.
- establishing protocols to follow when a staff member is bereaved, for example routine offering of chaplaincy support after a bereavement.
- whether there are any transferable lessons from good practice examples such as the ACAS Example Bereavement Policy and Good Life, Good Death Good Grief Bereavement Policy - Good Practice Example which highlight key principles such as flexibility and good communication.
Visibly promoting more awareness of bereavement and support
To promote more awareness of bereavement and the support available, you could consider:
- using intranet and social media to signpost to bereavement information and support websites such as those listed here: After a death | Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief
- having leaflets available in shared staff spaces such as this: What to do when a colleague has been bereaved
- making available information about the specific support that prison staff can access when they are bereaved
Developing a local workplace bereavement charter for staff
This webpage explains what is meant by a ‘local workplace bereavement charter’: local workplace bereavement charter for staff
It is up to your staff team what you include, but it could include aspects such as:
- Identifying bereavement champions
- Bereavement training for senior staff
- Bereavement café drop-ins
