Richard West – CSSC AW Ambassador

Civil Service Director looking to rebuild past habits during Active Wellbeing this February

Thirty years since starting his career in the civil service as a temporary filing clerk, Richard West, now a Director in Personal Tax for HMRC, will be taking on CSSC’s Active Wellbeing campaign and giving his colleagues the nudge to budge.

“Sport has played an important part in my wellbeing throughout my civil service career,” said West.

“CSSC, as well as sports clubs have been pivotal in maintaining my exercise levels and holding me accountable. Previously, Active Wellbeing has helped me broaden my horizons and allowed me to meet other civil servants in different departments, which is why I’m proud to become an ambassador for the campaign this year.”

Richard’s role as an Active Wellbeing ambassador will see him encourage his colleagues to accept the nudge to budge and make small changes throughout the month of February to help to improve their activity levels and wellbeing.

“When you invest in your career as you climb the corporate ladder, it’s more difficult to find the time for exercise, I find that sometimes when work picks up it leads to me not exercising for a while as my focus changes.

“People think it gets easier when you’re more senior, but I have found that it’s the opposite. Your time is not always yours, a 30-minute meeting for me is the culmination of hours of work for others, so I need to be present and give everything my full focus and attention. That means I need to find ways to keep myself healthy in other ways and being mindful about it. For example, I never use the lift, I always take the stairs.

“That same philosophy is exactly what CSSC are trying to encourage everyone to do through Active Wellbeing. It’s about trying to make small positive changes to our day to improve our health and work-life balance. It’s not about spending hours at the gym – it’s about moving more, and it certainly offers something for everyone.

“The goal I’ve set myself for Active Wellbeing and beyond is to get out more – the Yorkshire Dales are just on my doorstep – and get back into a more regular routine in the gym. I haven’t got the willpower to work out on my own, so I’ll be joining the gym’s circuit classes.”

Active Wellbeing is the UK’S largest physical activity campaign which aims to inspire members of the civil service and public sector to move more and get active in a bid to improve their overall wellbeing.
For the second year in a row, participants will take part in the Around-the-World challenge where teams will work together to go around the world as quickly as possible, with every activity counting towards their team’s total.

You can sign up here and create or join a team before 31 January.