HOW TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.
Learn the skills and habits of mentally healthy people.
Being mentally healthy is far more than simply the absence of mental illness.
Most people have either languishing or moderate mental health. They don't have an illness but they aren't really healthy either. Mentally healthy people have what is called flourishing mental health. They feel happier more often, have healthy self-worth, feel connected to the important people in their life and have emotional resilience for when life turns difficult.
The habits and skills of mentally healthy people.
Researchers have found substantial evidence that most people can improve their mental health. If you do not have a mental illness there are actions you can take and skills that you can learn that will support your journey to flourishing mental health. Examples include:
If you want to be happier this afternoon do something kind for someone else with no expectation of reward. A Japanese research project found that happy people become happier through performing acts of kindness.
If you have been hurt by someone you can learn forgiveness, forgiveness is nothing to do with the person who hurt you and everything about releasing yourself from the ongoing pain.
Mindfulness meditation is a well-being superpower. It changes the physical structure of your brain so that you will not become as stressed when negative things happen in your life.
You can learn self-compassion instead of self-criticism, leading to improved physical and mental health.
'How to improve and protect your Mental Health' training programme. List of content.
The Mental Health Spectrum, neuroplasticity, measuring your mental health and your positivity ratio.
Positive emotions about the past: Gratitude, forgiveness and self forgiveness.
Positive emotions about the present: Mindfulness, kindness, hedonic well being.
Positive emotions about the future: How the optimistic explanatory style could change your life.
Protecting your Mental Health: By learning to become more resilient we protect ourselves and our families from common mental health issues including depression and anxiety.
Direct Delivery
We deliver our 'How to improve and protect your mental health' programme directly to organisations across the UK including the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Police Federations, Parents Groups and Schools. Originally, we delivered face to face but now we have successfully adapted to delivering through zoom and Microsoft Teams. Delivering remotely has allowed us to offer a wider range of timeslots that suit participants including evening programmes.
Train the Trainer
If you want to learn to deliver our training programmes we provide our Train the Trainer Programme to Schools, Universities and Colleges across the UK, so that our training is sustainable. We have delivered Train the Trainer Programmes for Swansea, Wrexham, Ulster, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, the Highlands and Islands, the London School of Economics and Sussex University Students’ Unions; and to schools in Northern Ireland, Liverpool and London.
How to improve and protect your mental health
Our 'How to improve and protect your Mental Health' Programme lasts for three hours and has the overall aim of informing participants how to develop flourishing mental health . The training programme is structured as follows:
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Section 1: Understanding the Mental Health Spectrum |
Understanding the Mental Health Spectrum: Serious Mental Illness; Common Mental Disorders; Languishing or Moderate Mental Health; and Flourishing Mental Health. The Human Negative Bias, Stress and the Positivity Ratio. Neuroplasticity |
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Section 2: Habits and Skills of Mentally Healthy People |
Gratitude Forgiveness Self-forgiveness Hedonic moments Mindfulness meditation Mindful activities Kindness Optimistic explanatory style |
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Section 3: Emotional Resilience |
Emotional recovery Sustainability Protective factors Risk factors Reducing risk of depression |
“I have nothing negative to say; this programme really helped me to learn more about myself, how my personal setbacks have been hindering me, and how I can become more pro-active and resilient and feel like a person as important as everyone else, and not as a ‘less-than’.”
University Student
"Before the programme I didn't have any knowledge of emotional resilience and now I know a lot more about it. Everything from understanding pessimism and how to spot signs of depression, it has really helped me understand a lot more."
University Student