Introduction
Many of you may know Dan Vandenburg as the club's Mental Health Champion, which is a scheme sponsored by England Athletics. He does various talks and things related to looking after your mental health.
As such, Dan wanted to do something for the club during what is probably a testing time mentally for many of us. Towards this, he will be posting on facebook every weekday around 3pm with a tip on how to look after your mental health during lockdown.
Tips for week 1 are also set out in this article Mental Wellbeing during Covid 19 Week1
Tips for week 2 are also set out in this article Mental Wellbeing during Covid 19 Week2
Tips for week 3 are also set out in this article Mental Wellbeing during Covid 19 Week 3
Tips for week 4 are also set out in this article Mental Wellbeing during Covid 19 Week 4
Tips for week 5 are also set out in this article Mental Wellbeing during Covid 19 Week 5
Welcome to week 6 of Dan’s tips from facebook on how to look after your mental health during lockdown. The text of these posts is repeated below in his words.
These tips are based on a tried and tested 5 point wellbeing model. Each weekday will be linked to one point in the model. The points and days related to each one are (click on the link to go straight to the that tip for this week):
1: Connect with people around you - Monday
2: Be active (hopefully an easier one for Eagles!) - Tuesday
3: Racism
4: Take notice of your feelings and the world around you - Friday
If you ever want to talk to Dan in private, he is a trained Mental health First Aider and you can reach him on wellbeing@ealingeagles.com.
In the immortal words of Jerry Springer "Look after eachother and yourselves".
Monday - Connect with People
Hello all
It's day 25 of my wellbeing at home tips. It's Monday today so we are talking about Connecting with people around you.
When I gave my talk the other week I included a 5 point conversation you can have with yourself, or someone you trust about your wellbeing.
The conversation takes 5 stages looking at:
How are you today?
What drains you and your wellbeing?
What can you or someone else look out for that might tell them/you something might be slipping?
Who can you turn to for support?
How can you plan to keep your wellbeing high/good?
This went down well at the talk so I said I would share a version with you all, so here you go!
It's a picture file so do contact me on wellbeing@ealingeagles.com if this format doesn't work for you.
I hope you find this conversation structure useful for yourself and maybe those you care about (friends, family, work colleagues).
One important point is that it should be entered into in good faith and with the consent of both parties.
any questions do email me on the above email address
see you tomorrow!
Tuesday - Be active
it's day 26 of my wellbeing at home tips. I hope you liked the wellbeing conversation I posted yesterday.
Today is Tuesday and so we are talking about, Staying Active.
Most obvious thing to say is do take part in the Around the World Challenge the club started yesterday, You can submit distance of any length from runs, walks, mixture of both, inside, outside, treadmill etc I believe.
Other than that we can now go outside as much as we want in groups of no more than 6 people as long as we stay 2m apart and don't share food,utensils etc. Why not go for more walks than the previous 1 day or run with a friend or someone you live with?
I've noticed some people doing socially distanced runs with their running buds so you could consider doing this now as long as you follow the above paragraph
People shielding still need to do so.
Very importantly only do something if it helps you get through lockdown. Right now we shouldn't be worrying and burdening ourselves with, "shoulds", "coulds" etc. Be kind to yourself and just do what you want to do in this space. There will be a tomorrow to get that new PB, run further etc.
See you tomorrow for another tip
Racism
Hi all
I wanted to take a break from the wellbeing at home tips and focus on something which I know is affecting many Eagles right now. That is the death of George Floyd.
With events escalating in the USA and also some protesting happening here at home I wanted to recognise many Eagles whether they identify as BAME/ People of Colour (POC) or not might be upset, scared, angry etc or otherwise having their mental health suffering as a result either indirectly or directly from racism.
I wanted to share two resources I know of aimed at BAME people.
Firstly is Black Minds Matter who offer free counselling for POC, you can also donate to their cause.
The second is an eye opening blog on The Conversation on how grief is an impact of racism and gives an 8 point plan you can use to support yourself.
https://theconversation.com/grief-is-a-direct-impact-of-racism-eight-ways-to-support-yourself-91750
I'm not an expert on the content of this blog but will endeavor to get to grips with it.
Lastly I am available to support any Eagle member suffering a loss of wellbeing for any reason, do reach out to me on wellbeing@ealingeagles.com.
Many thanks
Daniel
Friday - Take notice
Hello all it's day X (I've forgotten!) of my wellbeing at home tips. I'll get the numbering sorted for next time! Maybe some of the rest of you have forgotten what day of lockdown or even which day of the week it is at times?
I do know it is a Friday today though and so we are talking about Taking notice of your feelings and the world around you.
The world is a diffcult at upsetting place often these days. We may feel different about life and our place in the world on a daily basis or even throughout a single day.
My last post on Wednesday was quite serious so I wanted to be more lighthearted today.
How are you feeling today on a scale of Moo the Cat from Instagram/Twitter? There are 9 Moo's in the grid below which one sums up how you feel right now?
I'm a 5 as I've had a crazy work week but also just finished early due to taking some TOIL :D
thats it for today. Have a good weekend
