Holistic support to improve physical and mental health
The City and Hackney Wellbeing Network, offers high-quality free support to help people prevent the onset of mental health problems and alleviate issues such as stress, anxiety and low mood. We also offer support to adults with severe and enduring mental health conditions.
A dynamic and diverse partnership of eleven specialist mental health providers, the Wellbeing Network empowers people towards better mental and physical wellbeing. We offer an exciting range of groups and courses to support people to improve their mental wellbeing, physical health, social networks and daily living skills.
One named ‘network navigator’ will be available to ensure that people receive the right kind of support at the right time and that support is well-coordinated.
The ACT for Resilience approach is based on the principles of ACT, an evidence based model that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment to values based actions to increase psychological flexibility and resilience. ACT for Resilience LGBTQ+ is for people who identify as LGBTQ+ and have lived experience of gender and sexual relationships diversity. The context of internalised shame and LGBTQ negativity on the lived experience are taken into account in terms of mental health challenges, and their potential contribution to feeling unsafe, unwelcome, not accepted or respected. The course will consist of psychological education, discussion, reflections and exercises which will take place both in small groups and the larger group. The facilitator will guide participants through experiential practice and exercises. They will make use of metaphors and scenarios to illustrate the core skills, including inviting participants to practice becoming aware of towards and away moves from what matters to them. Participants are free to not participate in the exercises if they do not wish to do so. Practices and reflections will be encouraged in between sessions. The group runs for 4 weeks and consists of 10-14 participants.
The Radical Self-Care approach has been designed to support people with the possibility of becoming more accepting, caring and reassuring in their relationship to themselves when life feels challenging. The theoretical underpinnings are evidence-based approaches such as Mindful Self-Compassion, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Compassion Focused Therapy. The course supports individuals to enhance their natural capacities for mindful awareness and caring and compassionate responses, towards themselves. RadSec for LGBTQ+ is for people who identify as LGBTQ+ and have lived experience of gender and sexual relationships diversity. The context and lived experience of being LGBTQ+ is taken into account in relation to mental health challenges, for example, the impact of internalised shame and LGBTQ negativity on self-acceptance, self-compassion and self-worth. The RadSec for LGBTQ+ courses are delivered by LGBTQ+ practitioners with experience of and training in the evidence based methodologies that the course is founded on. The content will support understanding of difficult emotions, for example anger and shame, and supports participants in managing difficult emotions in more helpful ways. The course supports understanding and enhancing emotion regulation through psychological education and experientially through practices and reflections. The course will utilise psychological education, mindfulness and compassion practices, exercises and reflections. Participants will work on their own, in pairs or small groups as well as in the larger group. Participants are free to not participate in the exercises or group discussion if they do not wish to do so at any given point. Practices and reflections will be encouraged in their own time between sessions. The group runs for 8 weeks and consists of 10-14 participants.
Creative writing tasks to complete at home with support from Paula.
The workshop explores kindness and compassion, and particularly self-compassion at this difficult time when we need care, compassion and kindness for ourselves too. The session will cover what we mean by these concepts, some of their benefits and better understand why it can feel hard to show these qualities towards ourselves. The session will include experiential components such as reflective exercises and self-care practice.
Mental Health Awareness week is being celebrated by the Wellbeing Network on 18th-22nd May. The theme this year is Kindness. Kindness is particularly relevant at this time. The good news: kindness is teachable and contagious! Did you know? Studies have shown kindness to increase energy, happiness, lifespan, pleasure and serotonin. Kindness can decrease pain, stress, anxiety, depression and blood pressure. Kindness Read more…
Shake off the winter cold with an afternoon of activities and conversations centred around your wellbeing. January can often feel like a difficult month. With the festive period well behind us, less sunlight and less in our pockets, we can feel stuck and uninspired. This event will help you think about ways to look after Read more…
