Lincolnshire Recovery College courses

This course is a platform to explore how being creative helps our wellbeing.

Creative activities are not only fun, but can also help promote our mental health and wellbeing.  Yet how much time do we spend doing them?

A fun and interactive, exploratory session, with the opportunity to share what creative things we’ve been up to recently or simply to be re-inspired by other creative people!

April 22nd

This is Earth Day, so we will take that as our theme -

anything from digging in the garden to saving the planet.

May 20th

Our theme is sharing on social media - how this affects feelings about what we have made, getting reactions (or not) from people that we know (or don’t). Whether you have shared yourself or just seen other’s work on the internet, you are welcome to explore with us!

It is ‘Creativity and wellbeing’ week from the 16th - 22nd May so it would be great to hear about what you have been doing.

Take a break from the everyday.  Share imagination.  Express yourself!

This workshop features simple activities and scenes we can do together.

We’ll use our bodies in gesture, pretend feelings we don’t have, make stuff up and pretend to be other people (maybe even ourselves, only more so!)

Sounds scary? Or fun? Probably both.

Our aim is a safe enough space to try out new things and then to reflect on the fresh sense of connection and ease that may result.

Come to the session, enjoy yourself and support others’ creativity.

Through the session, we explore how different types of journaling can help us to become more aware of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and how we can use this information to support us in our own mental health and wellbeing journey.

Together we discover a wealth of practical ways in which putting pen to paper can enrich our lives, as tools to help us appreciate the positive aspects of our lives, identify helpful behaviour patterns, become more mindful, or even challenge unhelpful thoughts.

We’ll learn that there’s no one way to journal, and we’ll even provide you with our Recovery College structured journal sheets to help get you started!

"We are all made of stories; we need stories to make sense of ourselves and the world around us."
 
In this workshop, we are going to explore how we can use poetry and creative writing to reflect on some of our stories and consider new ways of expressing ourselves. The workshop will aim to create an interesting and fun space in which we can share and learn from each other. 

The workshops will be based around a series of exercises which will support reflection, writing and hopefully, at the end of the session you will be left with a number of techniques which you can take away and use in your own writing practice. 
 
No previous creative writing or poetry experience is required.

This course has been designed and created together with Mark Pearson, Assistant Professor in Mental Health at the University of Nottingham.

This is a six session course.

A series of workshops exploring the benefits, challenges and creative possibilities of telling our personal stories of recovery.

During the workshops, students will be supported and encouraged to:

• consider which aspects of their experiences they would like to share  
• how best to shape their stories
• what media to use
• how to receive and give feedback

Each workshop will begin and end with the group, with plenty of time in the middle for individual or pair work, 1-1 tutorial or simply taking a long reflective break.

Sessions will be hosted by Alex (Peer Trainer) and John (Drama Worker), with guest facilitators bringing experiences of different themes for telling our recovery stories each week.

We hope that participants can attend all or most of the workshops.

This is important as it will help to create a safe enough shared space for students to explore and share their recovery stories, maybe for the first time, or perhaps to re-tell aspects of their experience in a new way (eg poetry and digital storytelling) but if students have a  particular interest in one theme or way of telling their story, that’s okay too.

This course has been created by and will be delivered together with people who have their own lived experience of depression and antidepressants in partnership with pharmacists from LPFT (Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust). 

Have you been prescribed antidepressants to help manage your mental health and wellbeing? Are you thinking about starting to take them, or maybe you have a family member or friend who is prescribed them and you would like to learn more?

During this course as a group we will discuss and explore:

• What depression is
• When antidepressants may be prescribed
• How antidepressants work
• What to expect when taking them, including side effects
• Other helpful ways to manage depression

Please note:  We are unable to offer any individual advice concerning medication and we would encourage you to please discuss this with your prescriber.

Do you often feel uneasy or tense?   Do you find yourself avoiding certain situations because of this?

We can all have feelings of anxiety when we need to do something challenging, like taking a driving test or going for a job interview.  However, some of us feel anxious most days, sometimes even when there’s no obvious reason.

Understanding what anxiety is and recognising the signs is the first step to learning to manage it better.  This course will help us to learn to manage our anxiety better by:

• defining what anxiety is.
• identifying the physical signs and the worrying thoughts in our minds.
• understanding the different types of anxiety.
• exploring the unhelpful ways we respond to our symptoms such as avoidance.
• sharing helpful tips and techniques to cope better in the here and now.

Have you been diagnosed with Bipolar?  Or maybe you have a friend or relative who is living with Bipolar and you would like to find out more?

This course explores the core features of Bipolar Disorder and the experience of living with the condition. 

We’ll outline helpful ways we can respond to someone who has the condition and suggest a range of strategies and techniques to enable someone to live well with Bipolar. 

One of our experts by experience will also share their insights and reflections.

A course for carers.                               

Do you care for or support someone who experiences challenges to their health and wellbeing?

Do you feel over-burdened, stressed, or overwhelmed at times?

This course explores compassion fatigue within those of us who care for others.

During the course we will:

• Identify what compassion fatigue is and learn to recognise the early warning signs.
• Explore how compassion fatigue may affect how we feel and think.
• Discuss helpful things someone experiencing compassion fatigue can do.
• Consider how we can reduce the likelihood and impact of compassion fatigue occurring.

The course has been created and developed by people with their own lived experience of being in a caring role and facing compassion fatigue together with healthcare professionals and the Recovery College, for carers.

Have you been feeling down?  Maybe you have lost enjoyment in hobbies and interests?  Do you feel like you are running on empty?

We can all experience dips in our mood and feel like we have we lost some of our sparkle.

However sometimes periods of low mood become more frequent, or more severe and our daily life can become a struggle. We may spend more time alone and do less of the things we enjoy. 

This course will encourage us to consider more helpful ways of responding to low mood by:

• exploring the differences between low mood and depression.
• discussing the causes of low mood and depression.
• considering the treatment options available for depression.
• identifying helpful ways to manage our mood better.

You may have been diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) or Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or are perhaps living with someone who has EUPD?

Would you like to learn about and understand more about EUPD?

This course will explore the core features of EUPD and dispel some of the myths and  misconceptions around this condition.

We’ll also examine how EUPD may affect someone’s experience of daily life, and explain some helpful interventions and strategies. An expert by experience will share their insights and reflections.

This is an introductory session to mental health.

It is quiz-based fun and interactive session which aims to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding mental health.

The session encourages us to begin to look at and explore ways that we can protect our own mental wellbeing and be more open about our mental health.

Feeling stressed out?  Feeling close to the breaking point?

All of us experience stress on occasions.  However for some, it can become overwhelming and even a habit. 

This session provides an overview of stress.

We will be considering:

• what stress is
• where it comes from
• how it may affect us

During the session we’ll explore the importance of recognising the signs of excessive stress and suggest a range of helpful ways to respond so that we can learn to manage the pressures of life more effectively.

This session introduces the 5 Ways to Wellbeing - a helpful framework which we can use to help structure our lives and promote our wellbeing.

We’ll explore the five core themes of:

• connecting with others
• taking notice
• being active
• giving
• learning

We will consider how we can put them into practice in our daily lives. We’ll include some top tips and share some of our own experiences.

Do you find that you have too little time to do the things that you love, and are feeling tired? 

Or maybe you feel like you have too much time and are feeling bored?

Many of us have also had the normal rhythms of our lives disrupted by the pandemic and are seeking to build or rebuild a balanced and healthy routine.

This session explores the importance of a healthy and balanced pattern of activities in our lives and suggests practical tips to re-build a routine that is both sustainable, linked to what matters to us and helps to promote our mental health and wellbeing.

We all know how we feel after a bad night’s sleep.

Sleep is so important in maintaining our wellbeing; however many of us may be experiencing disturbed sleep on a regular basis and especially more so during these challenging times.

This session will explore what we can do to create a helpful space and routine to sleep, and look at how we can best respond to those worrying thoughts that seem to pop up in the middle of the night.

This course will explore how healthy eating can promote our mental wellbeing.

Did you know that food can affect your mood as well as your physical health and wellbeing?

Knowing what foods we should and shouldn’t be eating can be really confusing, especially when it feels like the advice changes all the time.   Evidence suggests that as well as affecting our physical health, what we eat may also affect the way we feel.

In this session,  we’ll look at how changing our diet may help us to:

• improve our mood
• give us more energy
• be more focused, have better concentration, and think more clearly

This session will explore why valuing ourselves is  important to our wellbeing.  We’ll explore why and how low self-esteem may develop.

Together as a group we will explore how to recognise signs of possible low self-esteem and offer suggestions as to how we could start to grow our self esteem and self-worth.

This session will look at ways we can become kinder to ourselves and manage our internal critic (that negative voice that we can all have inside our mind at times), with the aim of treating ourselves as we would a close friend.

We’ll explore the importance of self-nourishing activities and look at ways we can increase these activities in our daily lives.

This session will explore the ancient practice of mindfulness and how it can be used to help us in these challenging times.

We’ll suggest how we can live more ‘in the moment’ by switching off our ‘autopilot’ and being more present as we engage in our daily lives.

This is a two session course.

Do you put excessive pressure on yourself to perform to an extremely high standard in every activity you take part in? 

Do you expect the same from others?

Understanding why we have the need for things to be 'perfect' can be the first step to learning to manage perfectionism better. 

This course helps us to recognise if we are a perfectionist and then consider ways that can help us to learn to live well with perfectionism by:

• Recognising what perfectionism is
• Exploring how perfectionism can affect us
• Discover ways that we can learn to live well with perfectionism

*A workbook will be emailed to you so that you can refer to this and put in place some of the ideas and themes explored during each session as you progress.

This is a three session course.

Practical tips to help us get back into work.

Are you feeling dissatisfied with how you’re spending your time?

Wanting to become part of something and contribute more?

This three session course is designed for those who are ready to re-enter the world of work and who are about to start looking for paid employment. This is a follow-on course from 'Working for my wellbeing?'

This course explores the various steps we might take to get a paid job - from searching for appropriate vacancies, applying to employers and being interviewed.

We’ll cover a range of issues, including:

• accessing the various support and help available
• understanding the impact of paid work on benefits
• recognising what makes an effective CV and covering letter
• understanding the importance of references
• searching for job-vacancies
• explaining gaps in employment
• disclosing health issues
• performing well at interview

Along the way, we’ll offer lots of practical tips on how we can boost our chances of being successful and make work, work for us.

This course will focus on ways that we can overcome our worries and unhelpful thoughts.

We’ll learn to recognise when our thinking is becoming unhelpful and offer two alternative ways to respond;

• we can challenge and re-frame our thoughts so that they are more balanced and realistic

Or

• we can ‘unhook’ from our thoughts and learn to ‘sit with’ them so that they have less impact on us and allow us to focus on doing what matters.

This is a two session course.

We live in a world that is ever-more connected by technology, yet more and more of us are experiencing a sense of loneliness.

This course focuses on a subject that is both important yet seldom discussed.

We’ll explore the nature of loneliness - what it is, how we may experience it, and how it can affect our lives.

We’ll investigate the apparent increase in loneliness and crucially, suggest possible steps we can take to tackle and challenge our feelings of loneliness.

Have you ever wondered who is a carer, what being a carer feels and looks like? Maybe you wonder if you’re a carer?

Would you like to know more about the support available and what legislation and services can help carers?

Well wonder no longer, Lincolnshire Recovery College presents its latest course all about carers and the caring role.

Learn about:

• The different roles that carers can have
• What it looks and feels like to be a carer
• The legislation that supports unpaid carers
• The local and national support that is offered to carers
• Working while having a caring responsibility

During the workshop there will be lots of opportunities to engage with the session and your fellow students.

You can ask questions and delve into the topic of being an unpaid carer.

The session is co-facilitated with an Expert by Experience who can share some of their own lived experiences of being an unpaid carer.