Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) Book Club: A Staff Well-being Improvement Project

AIMS: COVID-19 lockdown had reduced face-to-face interaction amongst staff with work-from-home and hybrid models adapted by most NHS organisations which had impacted team morale and reduced learning opportunities within the team. Book clubs are an effective way to enhance social process of learning especially in mental health. Our aims were to improve face-to-face interaction to boost morale within the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and increase the reading habit within the team around mental health fiction. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent initially to gauge interest on the idea of a book club and how it should be conducted. Next, we digitalised the book club with a WhatsApp group to facilitate discussion on selection of books and the first book was selected via polling (The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy). After 4 weeks reading time, we gathered on a selected day (30th September 2022) for moderated discussions with potluck-style lunch. Anonymous feedback was collected via surveys. The cycle was repeated on 28th October 2022 (second book was Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai). RESULTS: Questionnaire to gauge interest and how the book club should be conducted revealed that the majority preferred a once-a-month discussion during working hours on a mental health and/or social care-related fiction of about 200-300 pages in length. The 8 respondents were made up of 6 doctors, 1 nurse and 1 social worker. Feedback surveys on the impact of the book club on interaction with colleagues showed 30% improvement after the first book club (50% to 80%) and was 100% after the second cycle. Respondents also noted 60% improvement in interest in mental health-related fiction and 60% felt that the book club and discussions generated would help them in their day-to-day work in psychiatry (this figure rose to 100% after the second cycle). CONCLUSION: Staff well-being is paramount to ensure staff satisfaction and reduce burnout. Initiatives to address this must be tailored to specific teams. It is also essential to encourage medical education in informal settings to create a culture of learning and improvement from healthcare professionals of diverse backgrounds.