Reset and Recharge ready for the new year!
Since the first lockdown in March 2020 people's mental health and wellbeing have been affected in various ways and at various times as the outbreak has advanced. UK adults, in general, have slowly become less able to cope with the stress of the pandemic. The proportion of people reporting they were coping well has fallen slowly and steadily, from 73% in April 2020 to 60% in September 2021. Anxiety and worry due to the pandemic continues to decline significantly amongst the general population, but still record higher levels amongst vulnerable groups. (Stats sourced from mentalhealth.org.uk)
Young adults, women, those with pre-existing mental health issues, persons from minority ethnic communities, and people facing socioeconomic deprivation are among the populations most at risk of negative mental health outcomes during the pandemic, according to studies.
Looking after your health and wellbeing this Christmas
We wanted to share our favourite actions to help you look after your health and wellbeing this Christmas:
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Meditation has numerous health advantages, including stress reduction, anxiety control, increased self-awareness, and increased attention span. It's also a fun activity to involve the kids in - it might even keep them quiet for a few minutes! To find out more about virtual meditation sessions we highly recommend Osk Yoga & Wellbeing. You can follow Osk on Facebook here.
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Go for a walk outside in a warm coat for a quick dose of sunshine whenever you can.
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Maintain a self-care routine. Eg. sleep, exercise, beauty regime, socialise, volunteer. 5 minutes to yourself can be really helpful.
We pride ourselves on putting people at the heart of everything we do so we wanted to give a little something back to our agency staff this Christmas. In January 2022 we will be providing a virtual wellbeing workshop ‘Reset & Recharge’ alongside the wonderful Osk from Office Om.
The workshop allows time to pause, relax and reflect on what will have been a challenging year as well as teaching strategies to effectively manage stress and build resilience for the year ahead. We will be sharing further details shortly, but if you work in children's services, or you are a nurse, support worker, healthcare assistant, teacher, or teaching assistant, and you are interested in attending this free workshop, please register your interest below.
Need Support?
Don’t forget you are never alone and the first step toward getting and staying well is typically seeking help, but it can be difficult to know where to begin or who to turn to. It's natural to be unsure of yourself and wonder if you should try to handle things on your own. But it's never a bad idea to get treatment, even if you're not convinced you're having a mental health problem.
There are lots of options for support out there, although you might find some are more suitable for you, or more easily available. There's no wrong order to try things in – different things work for different people at different times.
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GP
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Friends/family
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Charity
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Peer support
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Student services
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Community support
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Workplace support
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Therapist
Please phone the Samaritans on 116 123 if you're in difficulty this Christmas and need someone to talk to. Over the holidays their phone lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they're free.
