National Self-Care Week 2025

Each year, National Self-Care Week offers the UK a dedicated moment to spotlight the importance of maintaining health, preventing illness, and empowering individuals to take charge of their wellbeing. Coordinated by the Self-Care Forum, the 2025 campaign runs from 17–23 November under the national theme “Mind & Body”.

While the week is widely recognised in public health, primary care, and community settings, its relevance extends far beyond individual health behaviours. In regulated sectors, such as health and social care, education, emergency services, housing, local authorities, and voluntary organisations, self-care is not simply a personal wellness trend. It is a crucial organisational priority tied to workforce resilience, safety, engagement, compliance, and long-term service quality.

In this blog, Anna Nova Galeon explores what self-care really means in 2025, why the national “Mind & Body” campaign matters for regulated organisations, and how employers can build a culture that protects people, reduces pressures, and ultimately strengthens organisational performance.

What do we mean by Self-Care in 2025?

The Self-Care Forum defines self-care as the actions individuals take to develop, protect, maintain, and improve their health, well-being, and wellness. But the meaning has expanded significantly in recent years, especially as the links between mental and physical health have become clearer.

Today, self-care encompasses interconnected dimensions of mind and body:

• Physical health – Sleep, hydration, movement, nutrition, and early symptom recognition

• Mental well-being – Stress reduction, healthy boundaries, emotional literacy, and psychological safety

• Digital well-being - Healthy tech habits, managing screen fatigue, online boundaries, and cyber-safety

• Social well-being - Connectedness, healthy communication, teamwork, and meaningful community interactions

• Environmental well-being - Safe, well-designed, and supportive working conditions

• Preventative health - Vaccinations, screenings, chronic condition management, and health literacy

• Professional well-being - Manageable workloads, reflective practice, supervision, and supportive workplace culture.

For regulated organisations, this expanded concept of self-care aligns directly with statutory responsibilities linked to:

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

• Care Act 2014

• CQC Single Assessment Framework (SAF)

• Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF)

• NHS People Plan

• Equality Act 2010

• Wider wellbeing, inclusion, and duty-of-care obligations.

When organisations embed mind–body self-care at the heart of their culture, they are not simply promoting wellness; they are fulfilling their legal duty to create environments where staff can thrive and service users receive safe, high-quality care.

Why National Self-Care Week matters for regulated organisations

Below are four essential ways self-care strengthens safety, quality, and workforce well-being:

1. Workforce well-being is directly linked to quality and safety 

Research across regulated sectors shows strong connections between staff wellbeing and:

• Safer decision-making

• Lower error rates

• Higher engagement

• Improved productivity

• Stronger inspection outcomes

• Reduced burnout and turnover

• Fewer sickness absences.

The CQC’s Single Assessment Framework emphasises areas such as workforce wellbeing, leadership, and environment, while Ofsted highlights sustainable workloads and supportive cultures in education. Mind–body self-care initiatives, when embedded properly, strengthen these regulatory expectations and provide evidence of proactive risk reduction and harm prevention.

2. Self-care supports workforce retention

Across health, social care, and education, staffing shortages remain one of the most urgent risks. Promoting self-care is not a superficial wellness gesture; it is a strategic retention tool.

Employees who feel supported in both their mental and physical well-being are:

• More loyal

• More committed to organisational values

• Less likely to experience burnout

• More likely to stay long-term.

Given the challenges of recruitment across regulated industries, mind–body self-care becomes a powerful lever for workforce stability and continuity of care.

3. Self-care reduces pressure on services

Encouraging self-care doesn’t replace professional care; it complements it.

When individuals understand how to manage minor conditions, recognise early warning signs (physical and psychological), and implement preventative strategies, the pressure on frontline services decreases.

For employers, this can translate into:

• Fewer short-notice absences

• Reduced stress-related sickness

• Fewer health-related performance concerns

• More consistent staffing levels.

For employees, it means feeling empowered, capable, and supported, both mentally and physically.

4. It helps organisations demonstrate proactive governance

Regulators increasingly expect organisations to demonstrate evidence of:

• Harm prevention

• Early intervention

• Workforce support mechanisms

• Strong leadership responses

• Organisational learning

• Inclusive, psychologically safe culture.

Embedding self-care into policies, supervision, training, and leadership behaviours provides measurable indicators that the organisation is serious about safety, well-being, and risk management.

Building a culture of Self-Care - Practical actions for regulated organisations

Embedding self-care is not about booking one mindfulness session or circulating a wellbeing newsletter. It requires consistent practice, leadership visibility, and system-level alignment.

Below are the seven practical actions that regulated organisations can take during National Self-Care Week and sustain throughout the year:

1. Prioritise workload management

Excessive workload is one of the biggest threats to staff wellbeing across every regulated sector.

Leaders can support self-care by:

• Monitoring caseloads, timetables, and rotas

• Reducing unnecessary admin burden

• Providing protected time for reflection and supervision

• Investing in digital systems that automate repetitive tasks

• Ensuring policies reflect realistic expectations.

A sustainable workload is one of the strongest foundations for both mental and physical self-care.

2. Strengthen psychological safety

People are far more likely to practice self-care when they feel safe to speak openly.

Leaders can strengthen psychological safety by:

• Modelling vulnerability and healthy boundaries

• Encouraging open conversations about stress, fatigue, and mental health

• Ensuring supervision includes well-being check-ins

• Creating accessible routes for confidential support

• Tackling toxic behaviours quickly and consistently.

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of a healthy culture and a prerequisite for effective mind–body self-care.

3. Provide training and health literacy resources

Many staff members want to practise self-care but lack the knowledge or confidence to do so.

Providing training helps individuals understand:

• Early signs of stress, anxiety, and burnout

• How to manage minor illnesses and injuries

• How and when to access appropriate support

• Physical health basics such as sleep hygiene, hydration, and movement

• Digital wellbeing practices and screen boundaries

• Chronic condition management and medication safety.

Platforms like ComplyPlus™ LMS make this training accessible, trackable, and aligned with regulatory requirements and inspection frameworks.

4. Encourage micro-habits, not just significant interventions

Self-care is sustainable when it becomes part of daily behaviour rather than one-off events.

Regulated organisations can encourage:

• 5-minute stretch or breathing breaks

• Hydration reminders and “water breaks”

• Scheduled well-being pauses in rotas and timetables

• Short reflective practice sessions

• Green space or fresh air breaks

• Manageable digital and work boundaries.

Small, mind–body micro-habits, repeated consistently, create lasting change.

5. Promote inclusive self-care

Self-care must be accessible and culturally sensitive.

Organisations should consider:

• Health inequalities and barriers to access

• Reasonable adjustments for disability and chronic illness

• Inclusive communication styles and literacy levels

• Neurodiversity-friendly approaches to work and rest

• Multi-faith, multi-cultural wellbeing needs

Inclusive self-care strengthens belonging, fairness, and trust, key ingredients for a resilient workforce.

6. Make use of digital tools to support self-care

Digital transformation is reshaping how regulated organisations promote well-being.

Tools like ComplyPlus™ support self-care by enabling:

• Well-being, mental health, and self-care training

• Digital onboarding and induction with wellbeing content

• Automated reminders and notifications for training and key checks

• Structured supervision and appraisal recording

• Smart dashboards for leadership oversight and risk spotting

• Incident reporting and trend analysis

• Robust evidence for inspections

When well-being is embedded into digital systems, it becomes measurable, trackable, and sustainable.

7. Strengthen leadership behaviour

Self-care must be modelled from the top.

Leaders should demonstrate:

• Appropriate boundaries and realistic expectations

• Visible mind–body self-care practices

• Respect for annual leave, breaks, and recovery time

• Predictable, calm communication

• Consistent, compassionate decision-making.

In regulated environments, leadership behaviour is one of the strongest predictors of team wellbeing and organisational culture.

Supporting Service Users Through “Mind and Body’’ Self-Care

National Self-Care Week is also a powerful opportunity for organisations to strengthen how they educate, empower, and support the people they serve.

Key actions include:

• Providing accessible information about minor ailments and mental health

• Encouraging health literacy for individuals, families, and communities

• Sharing prevention resources and simple “Mind and Body” tips

• Improving communication about medication, screenings, and early intervention

• Involving service users in the co-production of self-care tools and resources

• Signposting to community health, the voluntary sector, and digital support.

When organisations empower individuals, they reduce harm, build healthier communities, and improve outcomes.

How to get involved - Ideas for National Self-Care Week 2025

Regulated organisations can participate through:

• Hosting wellbeing workshops and “Mind and Body” awareness sessions

• Running self-care campaigns across intranets, posters, and digital channels

• Sharing the Self-Care Forum's resources with staff, service users, and families

• Integrating self-care prompts into daily handovers, briefings, and staff meetings

• Offering short wellbeing challenges (sleep, hydration, movement, digital detox)

• Celebrating staff contributions to wellbeing and safety

• Creating reflective spaces, supervision forums, or peer support groups

• Promoting both digital and physical well-being tools.

Participation demonstrates a genuine commitment to health, safety, and a sustainable culture, not just during Self-Care Week but all year round.

Strengthen Well-being and Compliance with ComplyPlus™ 

At The Mandatory Training Group, we support regulated organisations across health, social care, education, local government, housing, and voluntary services to embed wellbeing, safety, and compliance into everyday practice.

Our ComplyPlus™ digital ecosystem provides:

• Accredited e-learning mapped to CQC, Ofsted, HSE, NHS, and sector standards

• Well-being, mental health, and self-care training are linked to the “Mind & Body” theme

• Automated training compliance dashboards

• Supervision and appraisal tools

• Incident reporting and audit modules

• Policy management and evidence tracking

• Workforce insights that highlight risks before they escalate.

As you mark National Self-Care Week 2025, now is the perfect time to strengthen your organisation's approach to mind–body wellbeing, prevention, and compliance.