Staff Support
Academic and professional services staff play a crucial role in the life of the College. We are a small, busy, caring community committed to the DGHE Centre ‘Values’: a diverse, inclusive and professional academic community that respects individuals and enables them to strive for success. We understand that sometimes staff may need some support to thrive in life. We offer an excellent Employee Assistance Support Programme (EAP) via ‘Health Aware’, a leading provider of EAP services in the UK.
It is available 24/7, 365 days a year for staff (and their immediate dependents), supporting general wellbeing and mental health. Financial, legal, and medical advice and other family/work matters are available via the Helpline for you and your dependents.
Staff may access CBT counselling via the EAP.
An App enhances the EAP, ‘My Healthy Advantage’, also enabled by video-calling.
Additionally, all staff can access TogetherAll, a 24/7, 365, anonymous peer-to-peer site supporting mental health available to all staff and students; a DGHE email address is needed to access it.
Disability Support
Dyslexia, Disability & Health Support
Contact: disability@dghe.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (7718 612 618) Text/leave a message with contact details
Website: Disability Support
Advice and Wellbeing Service (AWS) for staff and students
David Game HE wants to create a truly inclusive and caring learning environment for all staff and students and welcomes applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability, learning difference or a long-term health condition, we will do everything we reasonably can to make sure you have equal opportunities to work/learn and take part in all aspects of college life.
Disclosing a disability or health condition will not harm your application, admission, or any time while you work at the College.
Disclosure can be a positive life-changing experience and ensures you will get the right support to achieve your full potential during your time here.
Staff and working students who are eligible for the Access to Work (AtW) government scheme can ask for advice and guidance on the process.
UK students may be eligible for the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) government scheme. Those not eligible for this are supported in-house.
For students who are working as well as studying, we can assist with confidential advice and guidance in accessing support and dealing with any discrimination in the workplace.
We strongly recommend that you get in touch with us as soon as possible before you arrive at DGHE to let us know about your specific disability and support needs.
Any information provided will be kept strictly confidential and will only be used to support you with your work/studies.
The Advice and Wellbeing Service (AWS) team coordinates the support.
We look forward to meeting you!
Please do let us know if there is anything we can do to improve the information in this guide, on the website and on the VLE.
The Equality Act: what does it mean to you?
The Equality Act (2010) defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, where the long term is considered to be 12 months or more. We offer a variety of support in line with the Equality Act (2010).
This includes providing reasonable adjustments, along with advice and guidance, to ensure that staff and students are able to achieve their full potential.
We support a wide range of conditions (please note that this list is not exhaustive):
Specific Learning Differences (SpLD) (e.g. Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, AD(H)D); Blind or visual impairment; Deaf or hard of hearing; Mobility difficulties (e.g. wheelchair users); Long-term medical conditions (e.g. Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, Sickle Cell Anaemia, Epilepsy); Autistic spectrum conditions (e.g. Asperger’s Syndrome); Mental health difficulties (e.g. anxiety, depression, eating disorders, Bipolar).
How accessible is the building?
Facilities and Building Access: information on the Disability Support for Students page of the website.
Take a Virtual Tour of the building.
Parking: There is no parking immediately outside the college, but some in the adjoining streets. Disabled Parking in the City of London.
Overview - What’s available in the college?
Extensive information, advice and guidance are available in the Advice and Wellbeing Services (AWS) section on the main website and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE-Moodle), including online training for staff and students regarding learning differences, disabilities and long-term medical conditions.
Appointments: can be booked with Disability for a confidential discussion about yourself or a colleague/student and how the college can best support your/their needs. Appointments may be in person, on the phone or via Zoom.
The VLE (Moodle): has accessibility features such as a listening feature and the ability to change the font to a dyslexia-friendly one/change the screen’s size and background colour.
Dyslexia screening – free: free screenings for Dyslexia are offered to staff and students using ‘QuickScreen’. For further information, contact Disability.
Health Aware: available 24/7, 365 days a year for staff and students (and their immediate dependents) supporting general wellbeing and mental health – including advice on financial, legal, medical, dependents and other family and work matters.
An App: ‘My Healthy Advantage’ via Health Aware 24/7, 365 days a year.
CBT Counselling: for staff and students via Health Aware.
TogetherAll: a 24/7, 365, anonymous peer-to-peer site supporting mental health, available to all staff and students; a DGHE email address is needed to access it.
Library resources: A dedicated AWS section in the Library for staff and students to use, stocked with a variety of reference and self-help books for day-to-day life, work and study support.
The Librarian is happy to help you access any books that you need from the library.
Quiet/Prayer room: There are several quiet spaces dotted around the building and a dedicated Quiet/Prayer room should you need to take some time out during the day.
Staff
Prospective or current staff can contact Disability for an initial confidential chat about facilities and any reasonable adjustments that may be required.
Candidates/Interviewees are encouraged to disclose/discuss any issues they may have to help us help you. We will put in place any reasonable adjustments we can, either at the interview stage or in the workplace, that can help the workplace be more user-friendly. Disclosure does not have a negative impact; it may help you have a much more positive experience.
Once you are working here, if you suspect you may have a learning difference (dyslexia/dyspraxia/ADD), staff can access free dyslexia ‘screening’ tool in the same way as students.
Contact disability for further information and/or to arrange a screening for yourself.
You may be invited to attend a meeting with your line manager to discuss and agree on what reasonable adjustments can be put in place for you. This is usually facilitated by someone from the AWS team.
Access to Work scheme for staff: If eligible, staff/prospective staff can consider applying for the government scheme Access to Work. Check your eligibility for AtW.
You may find it helpful to have a chat first to find out if the college already provides the reasonable adjustments you need for your personal circumstances.
You can, of course do this anonymously: call 07718 612 618 (leave a message regarding your query and contact details, and we’ll get back to you asap) or email Disability
Students
Extensive information for the support offered to students, including information for Needs Assessors, can be found on the Disability Support page of the website.
Specific support for mental health via DSA: Specialist Mental Health Mentoring supports students with a diagnosed mental health condition and focuses on how it impacts their studies and their time at university. This includes students with neurodiverse conditions such as dyslexia/dyspraxia if it has affected their mental health. Many students do not realise they may be able to receive this mentoring via the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) government scheme.
DGHE’s preferred provider is UMO. If not eligible for funding, students can still self-refer and pay for mentoring directly.
Counselling (up to 6 sessions) is available via Health Aware – see Overview section.
Useful Links
Accessibility
Facilities and Building Access at DGHE
Take a Virtual Tour of the building
Disabled Parking in the City of London.
Disability Equality
SCOPE Disability Equality Charity
Learning Differences (SpLD)
BDA British Dyslexia Association
ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
DISCALCULIA and maths difficulties
DYSPRAXIA Dyspraxia Foundation
Visual Stress/ Meares-Irlens Syndrome
Mental Health
A-Z Mental Health information and advice
NHS Mental Health Conditions information and advice
Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Anxiety, Fear and Panic symptoms
PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder
Hearing Loss
RNID Information and Support
Tinnitus
Sight Loss
RNIB advise and information
Sight Loss – useful technology
(NB: the list is not exhaustive)
TOTUM Discount Card
All staff can purchase a card starting from £14.99 which gives access to numerous exclusive offers and discounts from many popular retailers.
The card offers discounts on goods and services in a range of categories including eating out, fashion, entertainment, travel, music and supermarkets.
Examples of discounts included are:
- 10% off at Co-op supermarkets
- 25% off existing prices at Odeon Cinemas
- 30% off food and drink at Pizza Express (Sunday to Thursday).
For full details of all the available savings, visit the TOTUM website.
If you have any questions on how to sign up, please contact f.nouri@dghe.ac.uk.
