In the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week, we in the library team reflected on the ways in which we have been expressing kindness to ourselves and others.
We have organised our ideas by the five ways to wellbeing, and you can download the PDF here
We are hoping to collect the ideas of other teams across the organisation, to join ours in a lovely virtual display of compassionate and self-compassionate actions to be shared around at the end of Mental Health Awareness Week!
Please email your ideas for us to include to: bsmhft.barberrylibrary@nhs.net
You can read more about Mental Health Awareness Week and why kindness matters here https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/kindness-matters-guide
Listen to David Hamilton’s Ted Talk on “Why Kindness is Good for You”
We are also sharing links to resources informed by compassion-focused therapy, which can particularly help us to cultivate self-kindness and which may help with your wellbeing.
Dr. Hannah Gilbert is conducting a series of interviews with mental health practitioners, talking about issues arising from the current pandemic and exploring how we can support ourselves during times of difficulties: https://www.compassionatewellbeing.com/interviews.html
Psychotherapist Teresa Lewis has created a new playlist of compassion-focused guided practices on her YouTube channel, Lewis Psychology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoRY3L_EJx0&list=PLBcQw541_75Mkl3upofyb418pHhE5oEtH
Prof. Paul Gilbert has created an extended series of eight videos (each 20-30 minutes long) called The Nature of Compassion, Fear, Safe Relating and World Change: https://www.compassionatewellbeing.com/compassion-safe-relating-and-world-change.html. In this series of talks, he discusses how compassion can help us during this time of heightened anxiety and uncertainty, and offers a vision for the future of our societies.
A multinational team of researchers from 18 countries want to investigate the psychological impact of Covid-19, hoping to understand the effects of the pandemic on our sense of social safeness, our experience of trauma and how we have coped, and the potentially buffering role of compassion and self-compassion. They are inviting people worldwide to take part in a survey at https://www.fpce.uc.pt/covid19study/.
Compassion in Politics is the think tank that works to bring more compassion into public life. In their Beyond Covid podcast, they explore ideas around how societies can go forward following the pandemic crisis. Guests include Caroline Lucas MP, Prof Alice Roberts & A C Grayling.
