Springing into Spring with Greater Mental Wellbeing

In this newsletter:

1. Health and wellbeing
2. Good news reading
3. Monthly Masterclass Series
4. Leaving on a jet plane
5. What's next?

As we gear up for R U OK? Day on Sept 8th?followed by Mental Health Awareness month in October this feels like the right time to share some thoughts and ideas about what we can all do to stay mentally healthy.

Is your mental health something you worry about?

Have you been feeling more stressed, anxious, or sad?

You might not feel that you’re mentally unwell, but perhaps you’re just not quite your usual joyful self. Perhaps you haven't felt so enthused about your work or your life. Perhaps your relationships have been struggling a bit.

Let’s start with why we talk about health and wellbeing. Why do we separate the two?

Aren’t health and wellbeing the same thing?

No.

Your state of health determines your ability to perform your daily activities of living with a high level of energy and vitality.

Your mental health covers a spectrum or continuum from great, not-so-great, so-so to bad.

Your position on that spectrum will depend on several factors, some of which are under your control, others that aren’t.

Neither do you stay at one point across your life. As you age, as circumstances change, and life events occur, your mental health can be affected.

Between good mental health and poor, you can see there are many positions in between meaning, you may not be mentally unwell, but you may not be flourishing either.

It’s time to introduce (Pause for dramatic effect)

Enter Stage Left. Your Mental Wellbeing?

The one thing that you do have control over and that has significant influence on where your mental health status sits right now, is your mental wellbeing.

Your wellbeing differs from your health in that it is a state of mind constructed from multiple domains including physical, mental, emotional, cultural, social, and spiritual (to name a few) and is elevated by your choice of daily lifestyle activities that enable you to enjoy better mental health.

The dual-continuum theory first proposed by Professor Corey Keyes made SO much sense to me when I first learned about it.

As you can see from this graphic, taking care of your wellbeing protects your mental health, even if you are dealing with a mental illness.

Image: The dual-continua model. (Reproduced with permission from Keyes CLM. Mental Health as a Complete State: How the Salutogenic Perspective Completes the Picture. In: Bauer GF, H?mmig O, editors. Bridging Occupational, Organizational and Public Health: A Transdisciplinary Approach. London: Springer; 2014. p. 179-92)

What we now know from the research is that your wellbeing is far more the basics of eating healthily, being sufficiently active, getting enough good quality uninterrupted sleep, nurturing those important relationships, and managing your stress the best way you can.

These are a given, but the other aspects to consider include,

• Spending time in nature.
• Spending time at play.
• Unleashing your creative side (and yes you do have one) to dance, sing, paint.
• Showing yourself greater kindness and compassion.
• Focusing out, to add your voice and your energy to your community.
• Letting go of all the hustle, to find your place to just be.

How much time do you allow for all these things that add to your wellbeing?

This October I’ll be setting a mental wellbeing challenge – will you be up for it?

Good news reading

Squirrel news is a virtual weekly collation of positive news stories from around the world. Here is a selection of some of those stories that recently grabbed my attention.

1. The mental health crisis affecting our kids is deeply worrying. This story highlights what some schools in Michigan US are doing with something called the TRAILS program to boost social-emotional learning for students. https://mindsitenews.org/2022/06/08/as-youth-mental-health-crisis-rages-michigan-schools-work-to-bolster-students-sense-of-connection/
2. There’s been an increase in green social prescribing in the UK. The UK-based National Academy for Social Prescribing (there’s a mouthful for you) is now supporting multiple projects around the UK including Wellbeing in Reading, Dorset Nature Buddies, and Green Happy café in Northampton. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/09/these-salt-marshes-saved-my-life-how-nature-is-helping-mental-health
3. If you’re someone who loves a podcast, then this Squirrel News Podcast on Social Prescribing is just for you! https://squirrel-news.net/podcast/7-special-social-prescribing/
4. As someone with a black thumb, i.e. I end up killing most plants I try to grow; I class myself as a ‘would be gardener’ I like the idea but acknowledge there’s considerable room for improvement! Others of my friends love their gardens and would happily spend all day in them if troublesome things like work and families didn’t get in the way, and there’s plenty of evidence accumulating to show why gardening is so great for your mental health. There’s something about all that digging, shovelling, and getting the dirt under your fingernails that does us good. Community gardens, therapeutic gardens, and market gardens all play an important role. If you’ve got a few minutes, why not grab a cuppa, and relax outside. Gardening for health: a regular dose of gardening. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6334070/

Monthly Masterclass Series

Every month I’m holding a Masterclass session on topics relating to workplace wellbeing, psychological safety and preventing burnout. It’s a highlight for me because of the interaction and participation of the audience.

The Masterclasses are held on zoom and recorded for those who wanted to attend the live but couldn’t make it.

The next class is about how to get unstuck from the quagmire of indecision.

All the details needed to register are?here.

Leaving on a jet plane

Yes, air travel is back, along with a few delays, re-routes, the greater uncertainty of whether you will ever see your bag again, and of course all those delicious airplane meals.

Having quickly overcome the novelty of flying once more, the bigger joy has been the return of face-to-face conferences. There’s nothing that beats being in a room with real live humans ready to listen, learn, interact, and play.

My recent travels took me to Cairns for the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine Conference where I had the opportunity to speak about where lifestyle medicine fits into workplace health and wellbeing.

Then to the Hunter Valley for a 4-day immersive Think Tank led by the wonderful Audrey McGibbon of GWLS and Eek and Sense for an intense and enormously stimulating series of conversations seeking to formulate a framework around what workplace wellbeing is, and what must happen to make it an integral part of every workplace.

There’s an enormous amount of work to be done (and a lot more thinking and reflecting!) but I came away feeling hopeful, optimistic, and determined. We CAN do this.

What’s next?

The last third of the year (how did that arrive so quickly?) is already filling up with exciting new projects and I’m so grateful to all my clients and supporters for your continuing interest and desire to bring about positive, effective, and sustainable change in the health system and the workplace.

Thank you so VERY much.

If you’re looking for a keynote speaker, presenter or trainer for your next event let’s set up a?time ?to chat.

Until next time,