How UWE Bristol left behind poor service and broken promises for a truly supportive, confidential wellbeing platform
When universities face large-scale transformation, the wellbeing of staff often gets caught in the middle. At UWE Bristol, HR Director Catherine recognised that early, and decided to do something about it.
UWE Bristol is a large UK university that recently undertook one of its most significant transformation programmes in years. With whole-scale restructures, new teams, and service redesigns happening simultaneously, Catherine and her team asked a straightforward question: did they have the wellbeing support their staff actually needed to get through it?
The answer prompted a search for something better.
Why their existing EAP wasn't enough
UWE already had an Employee Assistance Programme in place. But as the scale of change became clear, its limitations became equally clear.
"Staff weren't happy that it didn't support people through planned interventions at a time that suited them. It's heavily triaged - helpful for emergency calls, but not built for the kind of proactive, flexible support people needed during a period of sustained change."
They weren't looking to replace their EAP entirely. They were looking to complement it with something more responsive, more personal, and more in the control of the individual.
What stood out about MYNDUP was something Catherine hadn't even known she was looking for.
"Your USP is being self-bookable. We didn't even know we were looking for that initially, but the information about what you could offer made it clear that having people feel in control was the solution."
The impact on managers during change
One of the most significant findings from UWE's partnership with MYNDUP was how quickly managers engaged with the service, and why that mattered.
"When we first joined, a third of the population using MYNDUP were managers or team leaders," Catherine said. "Whether it was to keep themselves resilient or for coaching on how to support their teams through change, that was really reassuring."
This matters because managers in transformation programmes carry an outsized burden. They're absorbing anxiety from above and below simultaneously, often without adequate support for themselves. MYNDUP gave them somewhere to go.
The return on that investment showed up in UWE's staff survey.
"Staff absolutely commended their managers for all their support through change. Without MYNDUP, there might have been more sickness absence, or more anxiety that people just had to cope with behind the scenes."
What good wellbeing support says about an organisation
For Catherine, the decision to invest in enhanced wellbeing provision during a difficult period wasn't just a practical one. It was a values statement.
"It tells the organisation we care about their wellbeing and recognise that wellbeing is different for everyone. Wellbeing isn't always about absence — people will keep going even when they're anxious. This says there is a service for everyone, even if they haven't told us they need it."
That framing — support that doesn't require someone to be in crisis before they qualify — is at the heart of what MYNDUP offers. And at UWE, it's translated into something tangible: a service the Vice Chancellor's Executive now considers non-negotiable.
"The noise around MYNDUP is enough that the VCE feels we can't take it away. It's a secure service everyone knows and feels happy with."
What they'd say to someone considering MYNDUP
Catherine's advice to other HR leaders weighing up whether to invest in enhanced wellbeing provision is grounded and practical.
She acknowledges the real barriers — confidentiality concerns, lower uptake among certain groups including manual staff and men, and the challenge of reaching people who don't yet know the service exists. These aren't reasons not to do it. They're reasons to think carefully about how you launch and communicate it.
"I always recommend it as a good service when people ask what others have used during big change programmes."
For Catherine, that recommendation comes from having seen it work. Not just in the data, but in the everyday experience of a workforce navigating one of the most demanding periods in the university's recent history.