Wellbeing is not a luxury: What funders are learning from the sector

The refugee and migration sector has spent years holding communities through crisis while often operating beyond capacity itself. Alongside rising demand, organisations have faced funding pressures, hostile rhetoric, trauma-heavy workloads, burnout and increasing operational strain.

A recent blog by Alex Mik, Senior Grants Manager at Legal Education Foundation (LEF), reflects on what funders are learning about supporting wellbeing in the sector and why wellbeing funding matters now more than ever.

In the blog, Alex highlights challenges many organisations know well: difficulties with staff recruitment and retention, the impact of trauma-heavy work, rising stress and overwork, and the emotional toll of working in increasingly hostile environments.

One of the strongest reflections from LEF’s wellbeing pilot was that organisations valued being given “permission” to focus on wellbeing.

That reflection strongly resonates with the learning from the BeWell project.

Through conversations with organisations across the refugee and migration sector, BeWell explored what wellbeing really means in practice and what organisations need in order to create healthier, more sustainable ways of working. One of the clearest findings was that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to wellbeing. Different organisations are at different stages, with different capacities, cultures and pressures.

LEF’s reflections mirror this exactly. Their pilot found that some organisations already had wellbeing structures in place while others had never had the time, budget or space to think about wellbeing at all. They also found that tailored support matters because generic “off-the-shelf” approaches do not always meet the realities of teams working in trauma-heavy and complex environments.

The BeWell platform was created to support organisations with practical and accessible resources that can be adapted to different contexts and needs. The website brings together tools, reflective exercises, case studies and ideas from across the sector to help organisations think about wellbeing in ways that feel realistic and meaningful.

Some useful places to start include:

• Wellbeing Actions – practical ideas for embedding wellbeing into day-to-day organisational culture
• Reflective Spaces – resources to support reflection, conversations and peer support
• Case Studies and Wellbeing Journeys – examples from organisations exploring different approaches
• Toolkits and Resources – materials to help organisations start conversations and develop wellbeing approaches that fit their teams

Explore the BeWell platform here:
https://www.ragp.org.uk/bewell/bewell-home

What continues to emerge through both BeWell and the Insight Hub bulletins is that wellbeing cannot be separated from sustainability, justice and organisational resilience. Many organisations are still struggling to find the time, funding and capacity to prioritise wellbeing while responding to increasing levels of need and complexity. We hope the BeWell resources can support organisations to start conversations, reflect together and explore approaches that work for their own teams and communities.