The University’s Environmental Sustainability Team has held its first resilience training programme for the University’s Sustainability Champions.

Sustainability Champions volunteer to actively help promote and engage with the sustainability agenda at The University of Manchester. It involves leading engagement activities, high levels of communication/visibility and taking an active role in events and activities around the University campus.

The Environmental Sustainability Team arranged the resilience training to try and help Champions develop tools and life skills to help with any pressures surrounding their sustainability role, but also help their personal development, wellbeing and resilience.

The first sessions were very well received. The training gave the participants some personal insight into their current way of dealing with stresses and how this can sometimes be unhelpful. Advice was given on how to try and change this into more positive actions, but also show how new coping strategies could help deal with any challenges. Ultimately, we want this to help Champions become more effective, so that they can inspire others to engage and change their sustainability behaviours.

Future training programmes on resilience and influencing people for Sustainability Champions will be run next academic year.

If you would like to become a Sustainability Champion at the University, please see the website for more information.