Wellbeing for Mental Health First Aiders
6-Week Course
What is it?
This is a course specifically for Mental Health First Aiders.
It’s an evidence-based wellness and wellbeing course that introduces a toolkit of mind-body practices to reduce stress/anxiety, increase resilience and mitigate risks of burnout.
The 6-week course is designed to empower Mental Health First Aiders to take an active role in maintaining and restoring their own health.
Why is THIS course important for Mental Health First Aiders?
Being a Mental Health First Aider is an important role within an organisation, but it can also be emotionally demanding. You’re probably familiar with the saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup”.
Mental Health First Aiders already know that mental health is just as important as physical health. It’s important to take care of yourself and there’s so much advice online, via social media, traditional media, through influencers and celebrities. It can be overwhelming and sometimes it’s hard to know where to start.
This course is evidence-based and uses a biopsychosocial approach. There is an interdependence of biological, psychological, and social factors in maintaining health. By addressing all of these factors, the course aims to improve the overall health and wellbeing of those who take part.
It focuses on reducing stress and equipping participants with a personalised toolkit to manage their wellbeing.
Those who take part will also be contributing to a wider conversation about the role of Mental Health First Aiders, mental health in the workplace, wellbeing and wellness across all industries.
Structure of the course
The Wellbeing for Mental Health First Aiders Course is designed to take place over a 6-week period including a one-hour lesson each week delivered via Zoom. The lesson will be delivered live and those taking part will commit to attending all 6 weeks.
Each lesson includes psychoeducation on the theme of the week, a breathing practice, mindful movement through a series of postures that promote good posture, lower back care and increased physical activity. The session will end with a guided relaxation and an opportunity to share reflections about the session.
There will be rich resources including technique and home practice videos. All 6 classes of the protocol will be available as a further resource upon course completion.
An evidence-based wellness and wellbeing course
NHS patients
The Yoga in Healthcare Alliance was commissioned by the West London NHS Commissioning Group to create a 10-week yoga programme (Yoga4Health) to help patients improve their health and wellbeing in a supportive environment. The programme was designed for prevention and early intervention for patients with stress/anxiety, or who are at risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease or Socially isolated.
The programme was positively evaluated in two academic papers by Westminster University, which gathered data from nearly 300 patients in West London
Cost data showed that for every £1 spent on the Yoga4Health programme, there was an ROI of £2.19.
There were statistically and clinically significant decreases in perceived stress, anxiety and depression as well as significant improvements in patient activation (confidence in managing one’s health), wellbeing and social connectedness.
NHS Staff
Yoga4NHS was developed in response to requests from the NHS to provide a programme to mitigate staff absence due to stress and the problem of burnout. The protocol is based on Yoga4Health and has received accreditation from the Royal College of GPs.
The Wellbeing for MHFAs course is based on the programmes developed by the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance which have received accreditation from the Personalised Care Institute and Royal College of GPs and is aligned to the College of Medicine and Integrated Health and the British Society of lifestyle medicine.
Who will be delivering the course?
The course will be delivered by Joanna-May a yoga and meditation teacher trained to deliver both the Yoga4Health and Yoga4NHS protocols. She is the lead for the Yoga in the Workplace pillar of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Yoga in Society which brings together MPs, Peers and policy-makers, in conversation with leaders in yoga and research to discuss practical and constructive ways yoga can be used to improve wellbeing across the UK.
Joanna-May comes from a construction background with an undergraduate degree in Engineering and postgrad studies in Quantity Surveying, and the Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. At the time of leaving the construction industry in 2017 she was the Commercial Director of a specialist subcontractor. Her decision to leave the industry was heavily influenced by the poor state of mental health within the sector and a lack of preventative interventions for wellbeing available in the workplace.
She has delivered talks and trainings for a variety of industries and companies including Balfour Beatty, John Lewis, ITV, Sir Robert McAlpine and UK Construction Week.
Please complete the following form to register your interest for the course