Working for the UK’s largest national mental health charity and years of experience leading crisis mental health teams taught me some of the keys to building and keeping a healthy mind! All of these skills are leveraged in helping your team grow, build and keep healthy minds while supporting others.
Session 1: Being Aware Of Mental Health
This 2-hour session opens up the discussion around mental health – understanding it more clearly, tackling myths as well as understanding the stigma associated with mental health. We will look at the affect the pandemic has had on mental health and ways to build resilience and healthy habits while still living in uncertain times.
Resilience is a key component in building a healthy mind and we will look at how colleagues work together to build resilience within the workplace, as well as in our personal life, and what that looks like.
o Understanding Mental Health
o Mental Health Illness
o Removing Stigma Attached with Mental Health
o Mental Health and The Pandemic
o It’s Good to Talk
o Resilience
Session 2: Managing Mental Health
In this 2-hour interactive session we will look more in-depth at how to manage our mental health. We will look at the effects of stress and anxiety on our minds and body and will learn ways to manage them well, and understand the signs our mind and body send to let us know we need to make some positive changes.
Habits are a big part of the health of our mind – in this session we will understand the habit-loop, with time for reflection to understand our personal habits, both positive and negative. We will talk through habits that serve us well and learn how to break old ones and embed new ones.
Being more aware of mental health and having a greater understanding of it allows us to look out for signs in ourselves or colleagues. This session will give us the tools to spot these signs and healthy ways to open the conversation up should we need to talk, or should we need to support others.
Lastly, we will cover balance! The positive impact of giving our best to our role and the sense of fulfilment that it gives our minds; plus the boost it has on our mental health. After giving our best in the workplace we will look at the importance of being able to rest and play. This includes shutting down the laptop and not being continually connected all the time. This brings creativity, refreshment, and energy.
o The Effects of Stress
o Anxiety
o Healthy Habits for a Healthy Mind
o Spotting Signs in Ourselves
o Spotting Signs in Others
o Work Life Balance
Session 3: Creating A Plan For a Healthy Mind
In this 2-hour session individuals will cover a wide range of activities and healthy adjustments that can be implemented into day to day life to improve our mental wellbeing. We will create a Wellness Wheel – to use regularly as a reminder of what keeps us well and healthy. This will cover different aspects of life and will help each individual spend time reflecting on what works well for them, what can be their pitfalls and how to navigate them with preparation, education and self-awareness.
We will look at staying well into the future and using kindness and patience as well as understanding with ourselves to avoid shame and guilt when things don’t go as we had planned.
Lastly, we will cover emerging from a pandemic and tips and tools to navigate the world as we now know it.
o Ways to Improve our Mental Health
o Wellness Wheel
o Staying Well
o Acknowledging set-backs
o Kindness and Patience with Ourselves
o Emerging from a Pandemic
“April is engaging and encouraging, giving an open floor for all to participate in the session. April is incredibly knowledgeable, and you walk away from the sessions feeling more confident in the subject taught”
Abby Young
Recruitment and Integration Manager, FC recruitment Compass Fostering
