Short video about online interactive coaching for mental wellbeing

Help With Depression Part 10 - Do Something Creative

Help With Depression Part 10 - Do Something Creative

In addition to learning a new skill, many of us have existing pastimes that we love doing but sometimes don’t get chance to practice. Lots of people like being creative, developing things from scratch and enjoying the process of completing a task. Enjoying yourself while you do this beats stress and boosts your self-esteem. It gives you a focus and purpose that helps you forget the worries on your mind or the difficult times at work. Being creative is consuming and leaves little room in your mind for anything else.

Doing something creative also means that for a while you are not an employee. A manager, a father or a partner, you are just you doing something you enjoy. At the same time, being creative allows you to express yourself in different ways, such as drawing, painting, building or planting for example.

You may meet different people while you are doing and again expanding your band of friends and colleagues with similar interests.

Life Coaches Give a Helping Hand

Life Coaches Give a Helping Hand

You are so overwhelmed with life. You need a coach. No, not a sports coach just someone similar, who can help you manage all upcoming games in your life. What is so beneficial about life coaching? How could the help from another individual help you take an effective action in life?

Friends are great for going out with and socialising but sometimes, friends are not around enough to truly understand your needs in life. Family members are wonderful for love and support but most of the time they have more things to take care of than to worry about the details of your life. This is why life coaching can truly be beneficial to you.  A life coach’s job is to only be dedicated towards helping you figure out what you want in your life and helping you actual achieve these goals.

The work of a life coach is almost parallel when compared to the work of a coach for a sports’ team. If you’ve lost all drive and motivation, a life coach can help you figure out the root of your issues to fix it. If you have a goal but you don’t know which direction to take, a life coach can help you in the vision planning process.

Help With Depression Part 9 - Learn a New Skill

Help With Depression Part 9 - Learn a New Skill

Learning a new skill can be like learning to walk again. It exposes you to new concepts, new ideas, new experiences and can be great fun along the way. Many of us have things we have always wanted to do but never got around to it. What is yours and consider what it is that has stopped us pursuing our dream. Usually, the obstacle or barrier that has got in the way is in our head rather than anything else. Change your mindset, believe you can actually do what you want, that you can learn that new skill, such as learning a new language, or fly fishing, or a musical instrument.

Learning a new skill can also bring you into contact with other like-minded people and expand the number of friends you have. The learning process will help you focus on other things than just your own wellbeing, it broadens your knowledge and experiences and helps you become rounded and grounded.

When you are in the process of learning, you will experience a sense of achievement and ultimately success when you have mastered the new skill and this will further feed your feelings of self-worth, self-confidence and personal value.

Help With Depression Part 7 - Care for Others

There will be times when people around you need help and support and someone to listen to their troubles. Helping others in their time of need can be very rewarding and uplifting for you and help you forget about your difficulties at the same time. Caring for others is part of developing and maintaining a close relationship you have with them, it can draw you closer together.
You can even extend the concept of caring for others by volunteering to work with charities or organizations helping those less fortunate. You will feel needed and valued for the work you do and will enhance your levels of self-worth and self-confidence. In addition, it will help you see that you are not the only one with needs and will add a new dimension to your world, one that will put everything into perspective.

Caring for others can include pets. Many people believe that looking after pets can improve your own mental wellbeing, can be fun and enjoyable. Most pet owners describe how they develop a strong bond between themselves and their pets, a bond that can cut the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Walking a dog, for example, will help you meet many new people with a similar interest and get you out of the house and provide that daily exercise.

Help With Depression Part 6 - Keep in Touch With Family and Friends

The stresses of life can feel much easier with the love and support of close family and good friends. Being among family and friends will give you a sense of inclusion and of being cared for, they can provide different perspectives on what you may be going through, offer advice or personal experience that may be relevant for you. They can also help you follow the steps in this guide and even hold you accountable for what you are doing and the progress you are making.

With all the different ways of staying in touch these days, there is no excuse for being isolated. Having family and friends around will give you pleasure and fun and help ward of those negative feelings. It’s good to talk!

Concentrate your efforts on those relationships with people that make you feel good or loved or valued. If someone is adversely affecting your mental health it may be better if you can avoid them or make contact as infrequent as possible. If necessary break the relationship in a way that is okay for both of you.

At times during life, you may lose someone close to you and it is natural to grieve and mourn their passing. However, it is unnatural for these feelings to last a long time so it is important that you talk about how you are feeling to either your family, close friends or even a counselor or coach.

Help With Depression Part 5 - Talk About Your Feelings

Contrary to what you may believe, talking about your feelings is very mentally healthy and will help you deal with difficult times. Talking to others about what you are going through means you are taking control of your wellbeing and doing what you can to stay healthy. It is not a sign of weakness; it is rather a sign of strength.

The old saying “two heads are better than one” is so true, talking to others about how you are feeling can help you cope with your situation and, in addition, it releases the thoughts whirling around in your brain going nowhere. Just to have someone listen to you can fill you with a sense of support and care and make you feel less lonely. Communication is a two-way process and by opening up yourself you will also likely encourage others to do the same.

Describing your thoughts and feelings to others can be difficult initially so its worth using lots of different words rather than trying to select just one. Drawing pictures is another way of expressing how you might be feeling and will help the other person understand better.

It will help you to talk about how you are feeling if you develop the conversation naturally rather than plan it, in situations where you are doing something together, say over a cup of tea or out walking. For the first time it may make you feel awkward but give it time, choose your moment and it will get easier once you start. You will feel very relieved once you have done and it will be much easier next time.

Help With Depression Part 4 - Value Yourself and Others

When you look around you, you will notice that some people are good at one thing, such as making people laugh, or several things, such as cookery, gardening, sport, and so on. We are all unique and just because we might not have the same skills as others does not mean that we can undervalue ourselves. Everyone has something they are good at but not everyone recognizes the abilities within themselves. It is much healthier to accept you are unique than be jealous of what someone has got.

By valuing yourself for who you are and for who others are, will boost your sense of self-worth and self-confidence, allow you to grow and develop new skills, go to new places, meet new friends and fulfill your potential. These feelings will help you when circumstances change and you are challenges with life’s stresses and strains.

Concentrate on what you are good at but also accept and recognize what you are not so good at, be proud and value yourself for what you are and what you can do. For those things that you might want to change, be realistic about what you are able to achieve and take small but regular steps towards your goal.

Help With Depression 3 -Only Drink in Moderation

Alcohol is often drunk to help change our mood or to help relaxation. For some, it helps reduce fear and a feeling of loneliness but whatever the reason for consuming it, the effect is short-lived. After drinking you will feel worse due to the manner in which alcohol withdrawal symptoms affect the brain and the rest of the body. Alcohol is not an effective way to help deal with difficult feelings and emotions. Like any addiction, the more frequently you drink alcohol the more you need to produce the same short-term effect and the more your body and brain is damaged.
However, occasional light drinking in moderation is perfectly healthy and enjoyable for the majority. The recommended daily limits are as follows and you would be wise to stick within these guidelines: -  Three to four units a day for men. In addition to alcohol, many people use nicotine and/or drugs to alter their mood but as with alcohol, the effect is very short lived and creates a craving for yet more. Neither of these solve the problems you need help with but rather create new ones to deal with. 　- Two to three units a day for women

Insiders: Outsiders: by Stephen Scott (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781907172205) | Word Power Books

Insiders: Outsiders: by Stephen Scott (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781907172205) Word Power Books

Help With Depression Part 2 - Eat Well.

Help With Depression Part 2 - Eat Well.

There is much evidence to prove that what we eat affects how we feel, just think about how that cup of coffee and a spoonful of sugar affects you almost instantly. But food can have a long lasting affect on your mental health and your brain needs a good mixture of essential nutrients to stay in shape and to function effectively, just as your body does.
A well-balanced diet that is good for your body is also good for your brain and, ultimately, your mental health. A healthy diet could include:
- Lots of water
- Oily fish
- A wide variety of vegetables and fruit
- Wholegrain cereals and bread
- Raw nuts and seeds
- Dairy products (in moderation)

Your diet need not look like the picture below. There are many books available on what food is good for you and the wide variety of ways they can be cooked or served. Eat at least three good meals a day and drink plenty of water. Restrict the amount of alcohol, caffeine and sugary drinks as these can have a detrimental effect on you.

Help With Depression Part 1 - Keep Physically Active

Help With Depression Part 1 - Keep Physically Active

Scientists believe that exercise releases chemicals in your brain that make you feel good. Frequent exercising can help raise your levels of self-confidence and self-esteem as well as keeping your brain and other vital body organs in good shape. Exercise doesn’t just mean taking part in sports, it can mean walking in the park or countryside, taking care of the garden, or even doing the housework. All it takes is just 30 minutes of exercise a day for a minimum of 5 days a week. Now that’s not a lot to ask of you.

Find a physical activity that you enjoy doing and make it an essential part of your day. Even better, find someone else to exercise with and have fun at the same time. Regular exercising helps you become fitter and lose weight, increasing your sense of worth and confidence. If you look good you feel good.

12 Part Guide To Maintaining Mental Wellbeing and Combating Depression.

12 Part Guide To Maintaining Mental Wellbeing and Combating Depression.

We all have mental health just as we all have physical health. We all know how to keep ourselves in good physical shape, some people do this well and others not so well. But do we all know how to keep ourselves in good mental shape?

Well, during a 12 part series on this blog I will be posting each week a new tip that will help you to maintain your mental wellbeing and combat depression.

Mental health is about how we think and feel and how resilient we are in coping with life’s inevitable ups and downs. Being mentally healthy does not just mean that you are avoiding mental ill health, it means that you are able to make the most of your potential, are able to handle the stress and strains of everyday life and make a contribution to your family, your workplace and your community.

Even if you are unfortunate enough to be challenged with a mental illness, such as depression, good mental wellbeing can be achieved with discipline, practice, new ways of thinking and new, more helpful habits. With 1 in 4 people experiencing mental ill health at some point in their life, either you, or someone around you, will be affected. We all have times when we are unhappy, stressed or just in a low mood and in most cases these pass relatively quickly. But if left unaddressed these feelings could develop into something more serious, such as depression, general anxiety disorder or panic attacks. Everyone is different in how they recover from these setbacks, some recover quicker than others, some take a long time to recover.

There is, unfortunately, a stigma attached to mental health problems that stops many people talking about their negative feelings, which actually only serves to keep them in a low mood. Talking to others about how you feel can be difficult but it is actually okay and liberating to say how you feel and to get the support you need.

Stay tuned in for part one.