A Stoke-on-Trent clinic has been awarded European funding to launch a pilot project to help companies support their employees’ health and wellbeing.

Torus Wellbeing Clinic in Shelton has been given a £5,000 grant from Keele University's Business Bridge programme to help develop an Employee Assistance Programme.

The money will see them team up with Allied Health Consultant Sally Able to deliver three new packages in addition to services they already offer. They include:

• Worked up and Worried – focusing on positive mental health
• Feeling Frazzled – focusing on stress relief and resilience
• Difficult to Digest – supporting those with chronic conditions like irritable bowel syndrome

Individuals will have access to a team and be given a series of sessions tailored to suit their needs to achieve outcomes that are important to them.

The clinic in Cemetery Road, Shelton, was set up by Dr Nicola Brough (PHD) three years ago and already offers a wide range of holistic treatments, classes and services including counselling and psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, nutritional therapy and craniosacral therapy, colonic hydrotherapy, massage, myofascial release, reflexology, Systematic Kinesiology, Reiki, Yoga, Qi-gong and Meditation. In response to the COVID-19 situation some services and classes are available online.

Dr Brough has been practicing complementary medicine for 18 years and is delighted to have secured the funding. She said:

“We bid for the grant as we truly believe there’s a gap in the market around staff wellbeing. Many Employee Assistance Programmes focus on physical health with some on mental health but what they don’t always do is offer services that support the link between the two. There is also a need to illuminate the fact that good health is essential for wellbeing. Wellbeing is when someone is feeling good and functioning well. People or employees who function well are more likely to be happier and more content and as a result perform better in their job. This can equate to improved productivity, company loyalty, and good attendance and better relationships in the workplace. Our new services are designed to help support that.

“In fact a recent study identified that more than half of employers asked, said they would like to do more to improve staff wellbeing but didn’t feel they had the right training or guidance to do so – we want to help change that and because of the current situation, it’s more important now than ever.”

Sally has worked in healthcare for more than twenty years and is overseeing the research and development of the project. She said:

“We will be looking for local businesses who would like to pilot the packages to evaluate the impact of the services and to give us an employees’ perspective. Ideally, we would like to talk to business owners, HR Consultants and Occupational health professionals who would like to be one of the first local companies to try out our packages of care in what is a six-month pilot.”

The Business Bridge* scheme, accessible through Keele University's Business Gateway, is open to those SMEs in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire who are looking to grow their business into the healthcare and medical supply chain.

To find out more about Torus Wellbeing, please visit www.toruswellbeingclinic.co.uk, email info@toruswellbeing.co.uk or call 01782 273314.

For more information about the business support opportunities offered by Keele University through the Business Gateway, visit keele.ac.uk/business.

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*The Business Bridge programme (Ref: 32R18P02530, Medical Research and Development Centre Phase Two) is part-funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the England 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme.

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