Health and Wellbeing News

As the COVID-19 situation continues, individuals may be feeling anxious. Mental Health support during times like these are paramount, which is why Care first have worked tirelessly to ensure our services remain available 24/7 throughout the pandemic to provide emotional and practical support and ensure we have every aspect of your overall wellbeing covered.

Resilience is a term used to look at how well we may cope with different situations.

Resilience is the body’s natural defence against Stress. Developing our resilience to handle stress effectively can help manage the impacts of stress, allowing us to ‘get back on our feet’ and to ‘bounce back’ quicker.

To be emotionally resilient means to be able to adapt to stressful situations. More resilient people are more likely to adapt to stressful situations, taking events much more ‘in their stride’. They are also less likely to suffer lasting difficulties. Less resilient people find it much more difficult to adapt to stressful situations and will find it harder to bounce back to their normal emotional state.

The idea being that if we can build our resilience up then we will be more able to handle situations that may be unfamiliar to us, or situations that we may struggle with. Resilience is also about knowing how to cope when we have setbacks, or barriers, or limited resources. This article looks at ways that may help you to build resilience.

How can you build resilience?

From experience – The experiences that you may have already had in your life are likely to have an influence on how resilient you may be when a certain situation arises. For example if you think of the current situation with everyone being in lockdown, you may draw back on your experience from the first lockdown last year to help you this time around. It may be that you found a new hobby or something different that really helped you and you can now draw on that experience to help this time around. Another example could be, if you feel that presenting to a room of people is very stressful, but if you have already done this before then you may be able to draw back on that experience to help you if you are put in this situation again.

From practice – If you think about the example above around presenting to a room of people, this may make you feel under pressure but putting yourself in this situation more often by practicing may help to build your resilience in the future, as you will have more experience of presenting to people. Now of course there are events that none of us can prepare for but we may be able to try and practice for some things in our lives.

Forgive yourself – Everybody makes mistakes and gets things wrong in life. It is part of the way we learn and improve. It is really important to remember when you do make mistakes or get things wrong that you do not dwell on them and that you can forgive yourself. Try and focus on a positive outcome instead and reward yourself for your achievements.

Expand your interests – Making sure you find the time to enjoy your hobbies and to try new things can really help by distancing you from other stressful factors in your life. It is important to have balance in your life.

Talking is good for you – Talking about issues may help you to start dealing with them. By not talking about things, we tend to go over and over them in our mind which is not good for our mental wellbeing. By talking about the things that are worrying us can help us to learn from others about how they may have handled similar situations. Although we are all different in the way we handle different situations, it may be that by speaking to someone else could help you develop your resilience around a particular issue.

Look after your physical health – Try to have a good sleep routine, regular exercise and a healthy diet. There are proven intrinsic links between our physical and mental wellbeing, so by looking after your physical health it may help you to take emotional challenges in your stride.

Change of scenery – Make sure you take a lunch break whether you’re at work, or working remotely from home. Try spending some time outside or exercising.

Try to resolve conflicts – This may be difficult but try talking to a manager, colleague or family member to diffuse the situation. It is important to work together to find a way forward.

Be straightforward and assertive – If somebody is making unrealistic demands of you, let them know and explain why. Try to do this in a polite and civil way. It is okay to say no.

Find some time to relax – It is vital to find some time for yourself to relax and unwind. This could be from having a soak in the bath to doing some yoga or maybe even just going for a walk.

How can Care first help?

If you feel you may need some emotional or practical support, you can contact Care first on the Freephone number. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. Whilst our BACP accredited counsellors are available 24/7 to provide support with emotional issues, our expertly trained Information Specialists are available 8am-8pm Monday-Friday to provide advice on any practical issues that may be causing you a stress or worry and help you feel more in control of a situation.

All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.

If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘Resilience during the Pandemic’ this is being delivered live on Tuesday 2nd February at 12pm, please use the below link to register for this session –

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2648046624583578383

If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.

As the COVID-19 situation is progressing and the Government guidance continues to change, individuals may be feeling anxious. Mental Health support during times like these are paramount, which is why Care first have worked tirelessly to ensure our services remain available 24/7 throughout the pandemic to provide emotional and practical support and ensure we have every aspect of your overall wellbeing covered. Where clinically appropriate Care first are continuing to offer structured counselling through phone and virtual software. At Care first the health and safety of both you the employee and our counselling team are absolutely paramount, any changes to our structured counselling process will be made in line with government guidance.

Counselling support

Our team of professionally trained, qualified and BACP Accredited Counsellors are available 24/7 to offer support for personal or workplace related issues. As well as the headline issues surrounding mental health, our Care first counsellors are also trained in dealing with both work and home grievances, bullying & harassment issues, domestic violence, relationships at both home and at work and much more. No matter how big or small the problem may be, our counsellors are here for you to provide you with unbiased support away from the situation. Everyone has very individual needs for support, Care first provides short term focused counselling, so the Care first Counsellor will assess your circumstances when you call to establish what the most appropriate form of support will be for you. It might be that you just need a brief conversation with the Counsellor that day, or you may benefit from a few more sessions.

Information Specialists

As control, or the lack of it, can be an influencing factor on the impact of stress. Many individuals identify stress as emotional, however, a lack of control around practical issues can be just as impactful. We have expert advisors that have been trained by Citizens Advice who can provide you with comprehensive answers and assistance on a wide range of practical issues which can affect our daily life, these include but are not limited to; redundancy, advice on funerals and probate, legal information, housing and tenancy issues, childcare, eldercare, health, consumer issues, employment, travel and education. Our Information Specialists are also money trained experts and can provide support with a variety of financial queries such as help with budgeting finances and advice with benefits. You can speak with one of our Information Specialists confidentially Monday-Friday between 8am-8pm.

Management Support

If you are a manager, have leadership responsibilities, or look after a team within your organisation, it is as important as ever that your colleagues are made aware of the range of support available from Care first. As well as supporting you to signpost your colleagues to the Care first service effectively to maintain your managerial boundaries, Care first can also provide you with support within your role as a manager. Care first Counsellors are all management trained and can provide support with issues such as if the organisation is going through a period of redundancy, managing change and difficult conversations, workplace performance, remote working, absence management and disciplinaries.

Care first Lifestyle

Through the Care first lifestyle site you can access a wide range of supportive information, read helpful articles published by our team, view Webinars covering a variety of well-being topics and even speak with a Care first Counsellor in real-time via our online counselling facility. You can log into your account by visiting www.carefirst-lifestyle.co.uk and logging in using your organisation’s unique log in details. If you are unsure what these details are then please contact your line manager or HR department. The Care first Lifestyle website is great place to go to learn more about Care first and the different areas that we can support in.

Care first Zest

With clinically proven intrinsic links between our physical and mental health, Care first Zest provides an interactive health and wellbeing management tool that can help individuals manage and improve all aspects of their mental and physical health. Care first Zest is also an effective means of pro-actively supporting the wellbeing of your team. You can complete the Care first Zest wellbeing assessment which looks at factors including exercise, healthy eating, sleep, smoking, caffeine intake and the amount of water you drink to name a few. The assessment then gives you a score on the different areas and you can see which areas you need to improve on. The idea is that if you can improve the areas you did not score well on then this will have a positive effect on your physical and mental wellbeing.

To find out more about Care first Zest please view the webinar which can be found via the link below:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2558790467075481100

Care first Woebot

For some people, picking up the telephone to talk with a counsellor is a terrifying experience. Sometimes, when we most need it, we find it the most difficult time to talk with another human. Finding support earlier rather than later is often the best way to manage issues of low mood. Woebot is an AI tool which provides a truly unique way to help identify issues and learn new strategies to cope and reduce the possibilities of those issues escalating into something bigger, without the need to pick up the phone. Woebot works by programmatically learning how to deliver the most impactful content at the most impactful time to optimise positive clinical outcomes for its user.

To find out more about Care first Woebot please view the webinar which can be found via the link below:

https://youtu.be/3oFyFclUEWU

Care First Service – How it supports?

BACP Counselling – Mental Wellbeing

Information Specialists – Practical issues

Management Support – Support for managers within their working role

Care first Lifestyle – Hub of resources and information

Care first Zest – Physical and Emotional Wellbeing

Care first Woebot – Low mood and Anxiety

How all of these above services link together

As you can see from the above table, all the services that we offer complement each other to ultimately encompass an individual’s overall mental and physical wellbeing, which enables individuals to access professional and clinically proven support.

Our counselling support is available 24/7 to help individuals with any emotional issues that they may have. Our Information Specialists can help individuals with practical information and advice. This practical support is so important because if an individual is concerned about a practical issue, then this can cause detrimental effects to their emotional wellbeing. By getting some support from an Information Specialist this will provide the individual with some clarity on that particular issue, which may help them to feel more in control of a situation and relieve some anxiety.

The Care first Lifestyle site can help individuals who are concerned about an issue. The individual may not know where to start and they can have a look at the resources on our Lifestyle website which may be enough to help them. The Lifestyle website is a great starting place to learn about the types of issues that Care first can support with. The individual can also access our online counselling tool through the Lifestyle website which is an alternative way to access support from a counsellor. By an individual looking through all the resources on our Lifestyle website this can help them to get answers about an issue they may be having. Again by getting some clarity on their issue this may have a positive effect on their mental wellbeing.

The Care first Zest platform is great for improving physical as well as emotional wellbeing. So if an individual takes the wellbeing assessment and then works on the areas that may need some focus. This can then improve their overall wellbeing. Many studies show a link between physical and mental wellbeing, so giving individuals access to this platform enables them to make positive changes.

The Care first AI tool Woebot is a great way for individuals to get support around low mood and anxiety. If Woebot does not detect a positive clinical outcome then Woebot will suggest that the individual speaks to a Care first counsellor if they would like to. Not every individual will feel confident enough to pick up the phone and speak to a counsellor so it is an alternative option for individuals to access support.

If you would like to learn more about ‘How Care first can support you’ then please join our webinar on Monday 25th January at 12pm using the details below –

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3503307241807055115

If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place. If you wish to contact the Care first telephone counselling and information line then please don’t hesitate to call the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.

To support Time to Talk day on the 4^th February the following sessions are being offered for all managers team leaders and supervisors.

February 4th (13.00-16.00) and February  12th (10.00-16.00)

The aim of the workshop is to enable and encourage managers to develop a management style that strikes the right balance between the needs of the individual/team and the needs of the business.

Content will include:

• Signs that might indicate that a staff member is struggling
• Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – issues to be aware of
• 2 golden rules for managing stress and mental health at work
• Practical problems for managers
• Good practice framework for managing mental health at work
• Clarifying the role of the organisation, individual staff and the manager
• Guidelines for managing sensitive conversations about stress and mental health
• Practical support – ‘reasonable adjustments’ during and after the Covid-19 pandemic
• Sources of support for staff and managers

To arrange to attend a session please book via staff connect

Monday February 1st, 2021 12pm – 12.30pm ‘How Care first can support you’
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3503307241807055115

Tuesday February 2nd 2021 12pm – 12.30pm ‘Resilience during the Pandemic‘
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2648046624583578383

Wednesday 3rd February 2021 12pm – 12.30pm ‘Children’s Mental Health Awareness’
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7322383915115149069

Thursday February 4th 2021 12pm – 12.30pm ‘The Benefits of Counselling’
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5626735774414971408

Friday February 5th 2021 12pm – 12.30pm ‘Living with someone with COVID-19: Tips for the Home’
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/380465520545919499

To view the webinars you will need to register with your name and email address.

As the COVID-19 situation is progressing and the Government guidance continues to change, individuals may be feeling anxious, tired and fed up. Mental Health support during times like these is paramount, which is why Care first have worked tirelessly to ensure our services remain available 24/7 throughout the pandemic to provide both emotional and practical support, and to ensure we have every aspect of your overall wellbeing covered.

There are many factors which may have impacted our mood and wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these have been directly impacted by the virus, information overload by consuming too much information, or watching too much news. This can be overwhelming and part of the fatigue is the uncertainty, unpredictability and the unknowns in all of this. Key workers who have worked throughout the pandemic may now be feeling fatigued.

It is important that we take charge and take steps to boost our emotional and physical wellbeing. Some ways to do this could be to try Yoga, meditation, reading, taking baths, getting out in to nature or even watching a funny movie.

These are all great ways to relax your mind. Staying connected with people in our lives is also important, whilst maintaining social distancing, having a video call or by picking up the phone.

Sometimes it may be useful to consider how we can change our approach or perspective in situations. For instance;

Focusing on the future in more positive ways – A routine may help. Think about tasks, chores and responsibilities that you have today. Practice good self-care with healthy sleep habits, healthy food, physical activity, stress relief and protect yourself and others by wearing a face mask in public places and wash your hands regularly.

Try not to focus on the negatives – Worrying about getting the virus or how sick you might get is far from helpful. Allowing the mind to spin into “what if…” thoughts without solutions can lead to heightened anxiety. If a concern is beyond your control, it is important to recognise that you cannot do anything to change the outcome.

Work on letting it go and try to focus on the things in life that you can control; like our own self-care, our routine and positive thoughts about the future.

Tips to beat tiredness

1. Get a good night’s sleep – This may sound really obvious but it is vital to try and get eight hours sleep a night or as close to it as you can. Lack of sleep is likely to lead to feeling run down.
2. Reduce caffeine intake – Try not to drink too much caffeine especially in the evening or before bed.
3. Exercise regularly – Regular exercise can make your feel more energetic and less tired. It hasn’t got to be running a marathon. Just going for a brisk walk can help.
4. Stress management – Although we all have different pressures in our lives it is important to plan time to relax into our days.
5. Plan your week – Cramming everything into one day can make you feel tired for the rest of the week. Try to organise your week as best as you can and make sure you allow some time for self-care and relaxation.

How can Care first help?

If you feel you may need some emotional or practical support, you can contact Care first on the Freephone number.

Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. Whilst our BACP accredited Counsellors are available 24/7 to provide support with emotional issues, our expertly trained Information Specialists are available 8am-8pm Monday-Friday to provide advice on any practical issues that may be causing you a stress or worry and help you feel more in control of a situation.

All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.

If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘Burnout & Tiredness’ this is being delivered live on Friday 29th January at 12pm, please use the below link to register for this session –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3523627316084417295

If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.

February is ‘Boost Your Self Esteem’ month.

This is an important cause especially in the current circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The mental health charity MIND defines self esteem as:

Self-esteem is how we value and perceive ourselves. It’s based on our opinions and beliefs about ourselves, which can sometimes feel really difficult to change.

Your self-esteem can affect whether you:
 like and value yourself as a person
 are able to make decisions and assert yourself
 recognise your strengths and positives
 feel able to try new or difficult things
 show kindness towards yourself
 move past mistakes without blaming yourself unfairly
 take the time you need for yourself
 believe you matter and are good enough
 believe you deserve happiness.

Low self-esteem can be caused by a variety of different factors. For example bullying, abuse, stress at work, etc.

MIND shares the following tips on how to improve self-esteem –

Be kind to yourself

• Get to know yourself. Try to learn more about yourself – for example what makes
  you happy and what you value in life. Some people say they find it helpful to write
  in a journal.
• Let yourself have feelings. It’s important to remember that you’re a human being
  who can experience a wide range of emotions.
• Consider what self-esteem means to you. You might realise you’re basing your
  sense of self-worth on things that aren’t useful or helpful for you.
• Try to challenge unkind thoughts about yourself. You might automatically put
  yourself down. If you find yourself doing this, it can help to ask: “Would I talk to, or think about, a friend in this way?”
• Avoid comparing yourself to others. Try to remember that what other people
  choose to share about their lives isn’t the full picture and comparing ourselves isn’t realistic.
• Say positive things to yourself. It might feel really strange at first, but you’ll feel more comfortable the more you do it.

To learn more about self-esteem, it’s impact on daily life and organisations to contact to ask for help please see the following –

About self-esteem | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems

Tips to improve your self-esteem | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems

Mind’s services – all our helplines provide information and support by phone and email. Our Blue Light Infoline is just for emergency service staff, volunteers and their
families.
Mind’s Infoline – 0300 123 3393, info@mind
Mind’s Legal Line – 0300 466 6463, legal@mind
Blue Light Infoline – 0300 303 5999, bluelightinfo@mind
Local Minds – there are over 140 local Minds across England and Wales which
provide services such as talking treatments, peer support, and advocacy. Find
your local Mind here, and contact them directly to see how they can help.
Side-by-Side – Side by Side: our online community | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems is a supportive online community for anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

Do-it Trust – do-it.org – National database of local volunteering opportunities around the UK.

Mind Tools – mindtools.com – Website providing information including tips for increasing your assertiveness.

One You – nhs.uk/oneyou – Tips and resources to help improve your health and wellbeing.

Reading Well – reading-well.org.uk – Books to help you understand and manage your mental health and wellbeing.

The Richmond Fellowship – richmondfellowship.org.uk – Mental health charity that champions recovery and social inclusion, including a number of regional services.

Samaritans – 116 123 (24 hours a day) – jo@samaritans.org – samaritans.org

Time to Change – England: time-to-change.org.uk – Wales: timetochangewales.org.uk

It’s been a tough start to the year and many of us are dealing with lots of difficult situations and emotions. Mind have put together a bumper edition of Mind@Work for the new year to help us get through the difficulties. They share their advice on coping with burnout, winter wellbeing tips, support for key workers and information on the links between money and mental health.

To view the latest edition of Mind@Work which is fully interactive you can use the following link:

Mind@work January 2021 (turtl.co)

During the COVID-19 Pandemic many of us have had to work from home to protect us and our colleagues from the virus. Working from home comes with a whole new range of its own challenges that you wouldn’t necessarily have when working at your usual workplace.

Lockdown restrictions resulting in us working from home has also meant we have had to put any social or holiday plans that we may have had planned on hold. For many of us these are the things that we look forward to most and for many, enjoying their time outside of work is a motivator in itself.

Stripping away those things to look forward to and spending all day at home working can significantly affect a person’s motivation at work.

Below are a number of tips to help maintain that motivation, or that can be used to recover motivation if it has been lost.

Stick to a routine

It has been a common occurrence that people have been working longer hours when working from home, not being able to switch off. This can begin to affect your motivation as it may seem that you never have a rest. The opposite is also true, many have found their productivity levels have slowly dropped off as time has gone on. A way to tackle both of these occurrences is to have a work routine and stick to it. Set a start and end time to work so that you know during those times, you are working.

Create a workspace

Don’t set yourself up on your sofa or on the comfy arm chair. Find an area out of the way which you can dedicate to your work space, whether you have a spare room or space on the kitchen table, try to avoid areas such as the sofa, a comfy chair or even bed! This is because you will slowly start to associate these comforts with work, which will take away from your relaxation time. Having your own dedicated space also helps your motivation as you know that when you’re there, you’re at work.

Structure your work day

Much like any day at work, have a structure to your day. Have goals you want to achieve and commit a time slot to do so. By doing this you can manage your workload well, and also if you give yourself reasonable time allocations to complete tasks it will motivate you to ensure you work to that deadline.

Avoid distractions

Avoid distractions as much as possible. If you’re sat at the dining room table and people in the house are always distracting you, try to find a quieter spot to setup your work space. For other things like mobile phones etc. leave them in the other room if you find yourself picking it up more than you should. Whenever you know a new email comes in, you don’t need to check it right away, finish what you’re doing first. It can be hard to get back into the swing of a task when you’re constantly being distracted, this will also slow your productivity.

Practice the “10 minute rule”

Procrastination is also a common thing when working from home. Perhaps you have a big or arduous task to do and you keep putting it off. Try using the 10 minute rule and tell yourself you will make a start on that task for 10 minutes, this is a nice little trick as you will likely choose to carry on with it once you have made a start.

Look after your general wellbeing

This is an obvious one, working from home many people stay up late, roll out of bed in the morning and log on. This is not good for your routine or your wellbeing. If you’re not getting enough sleep then it’s of no surprise you’re not feeling motivated. Try to stay healthy and active as much as possible, this will help get things going more at work.

Be aware of your emotions

This isn’t such an obvious one. Try and be aware of the emotions you’re feeling around certain tasks. Your lack of motivation may be coming from your anxiety around a particularly challenging or lengthy task. Once you recognise this try to accept and face the fact you’re going to have to face it sooner or later. By doing this it’ll make starting on a task less stressful, but also remind yourself as you go how good you’ll feel once it’s finally done!

More information

If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘Keeping motivated whilst working from home’ this is being delivered live on Thursday 28th January at 12pm, please use the following link to register for this session –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5775319377608907279

If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.

If you feel you may need some support, you can contact Care first. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.