We are very proud to announce that James Thompson (Deputy Headteacher) and the Fen Rivers Academy Team have been shortlisted for awards that celebrate organisations and individuals which showcase leadership, innovation and best practice in focussing on the mental health agenda at work.
Good morning everyone!
It’s Well-being Wednesday again so for today’s focus I am sharing some information from Mental Health First Aid, about RAC = Random Acts of Connection.
Feeling lonely is not uncommon, especially if you work remotely or spend a lot of time by yourself, and it can have a huge effect on your mental health and well-being. This year’s theme for Loneliness Awareness Week (10-16 June), is Random Acts Of Connection, and reminds us that by adding small and simple moments of connection to our day, we feel happier, less lonely, and increases our sense of belonging.
RAC emphasises the importance of fostering meaningful connections in our daily lives to improve our overall well-being.
Loneliness can affect anyone, regardless of age, background or circumstances.
It is more than just a feeling of being alone, solitude at times can be needed and refreshing.
Loneliness is the feeling of isolation and a lack of meaningful connection with others, which can significantly impact our mental health, leading to issues such as anxiety, decrease in life satisfaction and depression.
So, I encourage you to consider what small acts of connection can make a big difference in someone else’s life, whether it’s reaching out to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, striking up a conversation with a neighbour, giving someone a wave or a smile, making a colleague a cuppa when they are busy, giving a compliment, telling someone you appreciate/value them. No matter how small or significant, our words and actions and simple gestures can have a huge positive impact on someone else.
So today, when you finally sit down and put your feet up, if we actually take the time to stop and reflect, we can see the random acts of connection that you may have done for someone else or have received yourself and how it made you feel.
Because in reality, the simple things in life really are the big things in life that truly matter!
Keep connected and have a great day!
#RAC #connectionmatters #community #simplegestures #wellbeingweds #mentalhealthmatters #helpinghand
#buildingbridges
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Good morning everyone.
I hope you are doing ok and looking after yourselves.
Something I’m sharing for today’s well-being focus is from the Brain Coach around emotional regulation, called Cognitive Defusion.
Yes it sounds very technical, but Cognitive defusion is a strategy often used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It includes the technique in separating yourself from your negative thoughts and emotions. It allows you to gain alternative perspective and reduce the emotional intensity of your thoughts. As a result, it can help alleviate the intensity of negative self-talk and create a more supportive internal dialogue.
Emotions and feelings are actually two different processes – bodily driven ones (emotions) and sort of ‘think driven’ ones (feelings).
Emotions are your subconscious reactions often to a physical experience – the information from your environment that comes in via your senses (sight, sound, touch etc).
An example would be perhaps when you are worried about something, instead of thinking, “I am anxious,” you say to yourself, “I am noticing that I am experiencing anxiety.”
Basically, you separate you as a person from your emotions and when you do this, you stop identifying with negative thoughts and feelings as if they define who you are.
The way you speak to yourself really matters!
Research repeatedly tells us that the words we use to speak to ourselves have a significant impact on our psychological health. If you are constantly judging yourself, putting yourself down, and criticizing your efforts, you will eventually start to believe those things (even if they are not true).
It can also relate to how we perceive others too, where you separate how you think about a person in the moment from who they are as a person. This technique helps to create a mental distinction between your immediate thoughts or feelings and the person’s overall character.
Cognitive defusion is not meant in any way to minimise emotions and thoughts but is just the idea to help us recognise that we all have a tendency to over-identify with our thoughts, often amplifying them in our minds to become “truth”.
The saying goes “all feelings are signals but not necessarily instructions.”
So, I hope this short focus today helps us understand the need to create space and try to see our thoughts for what they are and how they can make us feel. It can be a challenging process, but with self-awareness, it can help reduce the impact on our mental health and well-being.
Look after yourselves and each other and have a great day!
#mentalhealthmatters #youarenotyourthoughts #signals #internalvoice #selfawareness #wellbeingweds
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Good morning everyone,
I hope you are well and taking care of you.
For today’s well-being focus and linking in with National Men’s Mental Health awareness this week, I am sharing some information from Blake Psychology around why there are no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ emotions and how this mindset can impact our mental health.
Basically, there are no good or bad feelings. They are JUST feelings.
We like happiness, joy, contentment, peace, love and accept these more willingly. Whereas many of our emotions might not feel as good like anger, shame, fear, anxiety and jealousy so we push them away, trying to not feel them.
However, ALL emotions are like the brain and body’s internal GPS… they are messengers letting you know information if you are on course or not, and the more you are able to welcome them without judgement but curiosity, the better it is for your overall well-being and perspective for life.
All emotions are valid, but of course, it is not ok to express emotions in a hurtful, irresponsible, or violent way.
All emotions are teachers and let us know something internal may need addressing or adjusting or just simply acknowledging.
Either way… as the saying goes… if it’s not being expressed, it’s getting stored and that can get heavy.
So, I hope you can practice the pause next time you feel an emotional response, be curious and non-judgmental and try to listen to what the emotion may be highlighting. This can help us become more reflective and self-aware as well as more empathic when trying to connect with others. To feel is to be human so none of us are alone.
All emotions don’t necessarily need to be justified, they just need to find a safe space to be felt.
Look after yourselves and each other!
#mentalhealthmatters #emotions #becurious #internalGPS #signalsnotinstructions #mensmentalhealth #humannature #wellbeingweds #igotafeeling #expressitnotstoreit #breakthestigma
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Morning everyone,
I hope you all had a restful half term and looked after your mental health and well-being.
Today’s well-being focus is just a short one as I have been chatting a lot with many of our students recently about ‘the power of glimmers.’
We often talk so much about triggers but there is an opposite and these are called glimmers, which are small but simple moments of happiness or joy that you can find in everyday, to get through the tricky times to help keep your mindset positive and bounce back.
Finding small moments of glimmers can make us feel a sense of calm, connection, peace and safety. They can be little things we notice every day, that can instantly elevate our mood, even when we might be feeling down or in the midst of a bad day.
I’ve attached this month’s calendar from Action for Happiness as it is all about Joyful June with a small focus for each day.
https://actionforhappiness.org/sites/default/files/Jun%202024.pdf
As the saying goes “misery might like company, but so does joy… and joy throws much better parties.” – Billy Ivey
I hope you all have a joyful day in some way, shape or form and look after yourselves and each other.
#joyfuljune #glimmersmatter #makethemostofmoments #simplethings #findjoy #mentalhealth #wellbeingweds
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Hello everyone,
I hope you are well.
As we draw closer to the much needed half term break, I’m sharing some information from Mental Health Foundation around the importance of sleep and how this impacts our wellbeing.
Another issue that links to this is a phenomenon called RBP – Revenge Bedtime Procrastination.
Revenge Bedtime Procrastination (RBP) is where individuals deliberately delay their bedtime routines, often sacrificing sleep in favour of reclaiming personal time and freedom during late hours. This pattern has become increasingly prevalent, particularly since the onset of the pandemic, affecting various demographics.
Among those affected are:
1. Busy parents of young children, who cherish the quiet moments of solitude after a hectic day.
2. Individuals grappling with occupational stress and burnout, seeking solace in late-night activities to decompress.
3. People who feel overburdened by their professional or caregiving responsibilities, neglecting self-care in favour of productivity.
4. Those plagued by anxiety, finding it difficult to unwind and experiencing restless thoughts that keep them awake.
5. Individuals struggling with time management and procrastination, procrastinating on sleep in favour of unfinished tasks or leisure activities.
6. Pre-teens and teens craving autonomy and connection, finding solace in late-night interactions through gaming or social media.
Recognizing the detrimental impact of RBP on overall well-being, it’s essential to take proactive steps toward change. Whether for yourself or a loved one, addressing RBP and improving sleep habits is paramount to physical and mental health and well-being.
So, there are lots of small, simple things you can do to give yourself the best chance of getting high quality sleep.
Take a look through the sleep advice and tips and find what works for you.
I hope you all have a much-needed restful half term. Look after yourselves, because you matter!
#sleep #recharge #qualityoflife #wellbeingweds #mentalhealthmatters #restwell #dailyroutines #lookafteryou
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Hi all,
I hope you are well and looking after your mental health.
As it is Mental Health Awareness week, I’m writing a short note as a reminder about “taking notice” and how this links to our mental health and well-being in our minds and bodies.
Becoming more aware of the present moments in life can help us interact more positively with the world around us, as well as understand ourselves better. When we become more aware, we can begin to experience things in a fresh way, when we may have been taking it for granted beforehand.
When we become more aware of the present moments, this improves our mental well-being. It includes your thoughts, feelings, your body sensations and the environment around you.
Taking notice can help to:
So, I hope today you will take notice by taking a little bit of time, to stop, pause, be still and look around you.
Notice 3 things:
Take the time when you can, because you matter! Look after yourselves and each other.
#mentalhealthawareness #noticecheck #thoughtsandfeelings #bodyscan #youmatter #presentself #wellbeingweds
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Hi everyone,
I hope this email finds you well and taking care of you.
For this weeks Well-being focus I’m sharing about the importance of positive conversations.
We all know in todays busy bustling workplaces, where tasks can pile up and demands loom, the importance of fostering open dialogue in the workplace is not just beneficial but essential. Conversations can evoke emotions and establish connection and bonds between you and others.
Every interaction is an invaluable opportunity to gather information on how things are for someone, which in turn, can then help direct effective support and clarity for the situation.
So why is it good to talk and how does this positively support our mental health and well-being?
A few things:
With this in mind, I hope you initiate some positive conversations with each other today, whether it’s sharing your thoughts, expressing appreciation for a task well done or discussing a need and finding a supportive solution.
Together, let’s create a workplace where positive communication flourishes, collaboration thrives, and everyone feels valued and supported.
After all, it’s good to talk!
#mentalhealthmatters #good2talk #community #wellbeingweds #positiveconversations #talkitout
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Hi everyone!
I hope you are looking after yourselves and each other.
For this week’s ‘Wednesday Well-being’ focus I’m sharing about how being ‘meaningful with purpose’ can support our overall well-being, individually and collectively.
Having a purpose and feeling fulfilled in life has a big impact on our overall happiness and mindset.
When you have a clear purpose, it gives you direction, you start to know yourself better and can make decisions that align with your core values and beliefs- have you ever asked yourself what really matters to you?
This is different for everyone and often best viewed as a process or journey – one that involves becoming self-aware and what drives you.
Motivation and joy are not sentiments that can be faked. We might tell ourselves we enjoy doing something good but actually only some activities truly and innately resonate with us, whereas others may not.
Passion is about authentic internal drivers that can arise from personal experiences in life. Purpose is the reason behind why these things motivate us.
Although it’s not possible to feel 100% passionate all the time, purpose and meaning are our reminders to keep going, and remembering why we started. Passion fuels purpose!
Humanity is hard-wired to feel empathy and fulfilling activities that indirectly or directly help others helps us feel needed and appreciated in return.
Meaningful activities can also include things we do for ourselves such as physical, social or leisure activities, that serve our needs and preferences – giving us a sense of purpose in life, structure, skills, challenge or self-expression and self-confidence.
Helping others also makes us happier and healthier by fostering connection, supporting exchange of ideas, developing purpose and creating stronger communities.
With this in mind, I’ve attached the latest Action for Happiness calendar for some thoughts for each day and I hope you all have a Meaningful May because we really are ‘better together’.
#motivation #passion #selfawareness #team #community #empathicliving #wellbeingweds #mentalhealthmatters #whatsyourpurpose
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Morning all,
As we reach the middle of the week, I hope you are keeping yourselves well.
If you weren’t aware, the month of April is stress awareness month so as a small reminder on the importance of addressing stress, I’m sharing a brief overview of tips from Mental Health UK.
Stress is our body’s response to pressure that manifests itself in many different ways. It’s the feeling of being overwhelmed and finding it hard to cope emotionally and/or mentally. Taking time to identify the emotional and mental pressures in our lives and addressing them is a good way to understand and protect our mental health and well-being.
When stress is left unchecked, it can take a huge toll on our physical and mental health. That’s why it’s important to know some simple techniques to draw on to help manage stress daily.
For further reading and to learn more about ways to manage stress please click here: https://bit.ly/3q3sGM3
Take care and look after yourselves, in all ways, always!
#StressAwarenessMonth #mentalhealthmatters #wellbeingweds #priorities #lookafteryou
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Morning everyone,
I hope you all had a great Easter break and took the time needed to rest, recharge and replenish yourself.
Today I’m sharing an article by another work-based ‘well-being champion’ Nano Kofi Nyarko-Appiah about the importance of personal and collective wellbeing.
“Wellbeing, a word tossed around a lot these days, often in boardrooms and company retreats. But true wellbeing isn’t just a corporate buzzword; it’s the foundation for a fulfilling and healthy life.
The good news? Our wellbeing is largely in our own hands. We can cultivate healthy habits, prioritize sleep, nourish our bodies with good food, and move our bodies regularly. We can nurture relationships, find activities that bring us joy, and practice mindfulness to manage stress. These choices, big and small, create a ripple effect, influencing our energy, resilience, and overall happiness.
However, individual efforts alone can only go so far. Companies and institutions have a responsibility to move beyond the “wellbeing talks” and action on their words. This means creating a work environment that actively supports employee wellbeing. Flexible work schedules, wellbeing programs, and on-site facilities are all positive steps. But it goes deeper. Cultivating a culture of open communication, offering mental health resources, and prioritizing work-life balance are crucial.
Here’s why this matters. When employees feel truly cared for and supported, they’re more engaged, productive, and loyal. A company that prioritizes wellbeing fosters a positive and collaborative environment, attracting and retaining top talent.
Imagine a world where personal and collective wellbeing efforts work in hand-in-hand. Individuals empowered with the knowledge and resources to thrive, while companies invest in creating a supportive ecosystem. This is the future we should strive for.
So, let’s take charge! Let’s make healthy choices for ourselves, hold companies accountable for creating supportive workplaces, and advocate for a future where wellbeing is not just a trend, but a way of life. It’s time to move beyond talks and prioritize actions that empower all of us to flourish.”
So, that in a nutshell is why our personal and collective wellbeing is so important, the culture and environment we need to create as we start a new term together and should remain a top priority for us all!!
Look after yourself and each other.
#wellbeingweds #workplaceculture #noIinteam #selfcare #mindset #worklifebalance #mentalhealthmatters #livewell #removethestigma #inittogether
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Hi everyone!
It’s the last day!!!!….. So for well-being Wednesday this one is simply going to say……..
**** Well done! You made it! *******
Enjoy every second of your well-deserved break after today, rest well and most importantly switch off from work mode!
Oh, and here’s a bunch of quotes saying the same!
Happy Easter and look after yourselves.
#mentalhealthmatters #restwork+play #relax #recharge #wellbeingweds #itsoktodisconnect #takeabreak #unwind #selfcareisntselfish
Best wishes,
Jude Henson
Advocate / DDSL
Mental Health and Grief First Aider
Wellbeing Champion
UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Lead
Not Forgetting The Importance of the Stress Container
The Importance of Self Care Wellbeing Wednesday
Stress Awareness Week 2023 and Self Care
The Benefits of Music on Wellbeing and the Power of Connection
Mental Health First Aid and Burnout
A little Christmas Self Care 2022
Loneliness – Mental Health Awareness Week May 2022
My-Whole-Self-MOT-check-in poster
Mental Health guide for parents_carers
Mental health week 2022 Tips for parents_carers
A head full of blue
N Johnstone, 2003
I had a dog: his name was depression
M Johnstone, 2007
The mindful way through anxiety: Break free from chronic worry and reclaim your life
S.M Orsillo, 2011
Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world
M Williams & D Penman, 20011
Quiet the mind: An illustrated guide on How to Meditate
M Johnstone, 2012
Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A slef-help guide using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques
D Veale, 2009
Finding a therapist
British association for behavioural and cognitive psychotherapies.
0161 7054304
Website: www.babcp.com
Abuse (domestic, child, sexual)
One in four, Charity supporting childhood sexual abuse
0208 6972112
Website: www.oneinfour.org.uk
NSPCC
0808 800 5000
Website: www.NSPCC.org.uk
Addiction and substance misuse
Adfam, Families Drugs and Alcohol support
0207 5537640
Website: www.adfam.org.uk
Anxiety
Anxiety UK, support
08444 775774
Website: www.anxietyuk.org.uk
Bereavement
Bereavement advice centre UK
0800 6349494
Website: www.bereavementadvice.org
Crime victims
Victim support
0808 1689111
Website: www.victimsupport.org.uk
Debt
The Money Advice Service
0800 1387777
Website: www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
Depression
Depression UK
www.depressionuk.org
Eating disorder
BEAT National support group
Youth no: 0345 6347650
Adult no (over 18yrs): 0345 6341414
Website: www.b-eat.co.uk
Employment and mental health
ACAs – Advisory conciliation and arbitration service
0300 1231100
Website: www.acas.org.uk
Family, Parenting, Relationships
Family Action
0207 2546251
Website: www.family-action.org.uk
LGBTQ
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender switchboard
0300 3300630
Website: www.switchboard.lgbt
Self harm
NSHN – National Self-harm Network
Website: www.nshn.co.uk
