Coronavirus support page
For up to date NHS and Government advice on Covid-19, please visit our main LPFT news page.
We know that Covid 19 continues to cause some additional challenges. With this in mind, we have tried our best to put, what could be, helpful emotional health and mental resources all in one place.
Changes to our face to face appointments during Covid-19
Information about your appointment and what to expect
If you or anyone in your household is experiencing symptoms of coronavirus, no matter how mild, you must not leave your household. These symptoms include:
- A high temperature
- A new, continuous cough
- Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
In response to COVID 19, there will be a few changes to the way your appointment is offered. The changes are in line with both national and local guidelines and will ensure the safety of both you and our staff.
If you have an appointment with one of our teams, please contact the team to let them know you are unable to attend. They will discuss with you suitable alternative arrangements.
We are only able to offer a waiting facility in exceptional circumstances. If you require a space to wait prior to or during your appointment, please contact your team so they can make the necessary arrangements.
Please arrive on time for your appointment.
When you arrive please telephone the building to let them know you have arrived. The building telephone number will be clearly printed on your appointment letter and entrance to the building. We will notify the clinician that you have arrived. If possible please wait outside or in your car. The clinician will contact you by telephone when your appointment is about to start and will invite you into the building. The clinicians will meet you at the main entrance.
Prior to your appointment, you will be asked to clean your hands with hand sanitiser or hand wash.
We request that you wear a face covering when attending your appointment in the clinic. We would encourage you to provide the face covering for yourself. You will not be denied care if you are not wearing a face covering and we will make one available if this is needed. If you have any difficutlies with wearing a face covering, please discuss this with your clinician. Your clinicians may also wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which could include a mask, apron and gloves.
Thank you for your understanding and support in preventing the spread of coronavirus
Tips/advice on managing anxiety and mental health during Coronavirus
Mind - Coronavirus and your wellbeing
Young Minds- 'What to do if you’re anxious about coronavirus'
Information about worry and anxiety for children - "Kiki the Worry Monster" book available for download here
Check out the SHARE checklist before you like, comment or share information- remember, try and get information from trusted sources.
FACE Covid- a video on 'How To Respond Effectively To The Corona Crisis' based on principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Psychology Tools- Guide to living with worry and anxiety during global uncertainty
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuJfLghYZbE]
Covid-19 and eating disorders
BEAT- 'Eating Disorders and Coronavirus.'
CAMHS EDS Newsletter 1- Tips and activites to support young people with an eating disorder during lockdown
Coping cards- Check out these coping cards developed by our CAMHS EDS team
My Self Care Plan- Check out this plan developed by our CAMHS EDS team
‘Survival Guide to Change’ online workshop series for children and young people
This ‘Survival Guide to Change’ online workshop series has been created by Healthy Minds Lincolnshire. It's aim is to support children and young people to learn new strategies to help manage during times of uncertainty.
This workshop series is suitable for young people aged 10 plus. Younger children are likely to need support from parents and carers in completing this workshop. Before you start the workshop please download our 'survival guide to change' workbook.
Introduction to the 'survival guide to change' workshop series
PART 1- 'A survival guide to change’ online workshop
PART 2- 'A survival guide to change’ online workshop
PART 3- 'A survival guide to change’ online workshop
PART 4- 'A survival guide to change’ online workshop
PART 5- 'A survival guide to change’ online workshop
Once completed, please could you take some time to complete our feedback survey
Supporting your child during coronavirus
Young Minds- Supporting Your Child During The Coronavirus Pandemic
NSPCC- Supporting your child through coronavirus
Lincolnshire-based charity Inspire+ have collated a wide range of activities and programmes for both children and parents/guardians at home that will promote being 'Healthy, Happy & Active.' On their social media channels they are also posting daily challenges from staff and ambassadors.
Alderhey NHS- Mindfulness Activities for Kids
DDP Network- Parenting a traumatised child whilst living with Covid-19
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OejUej88NJw&feature=youtu.be]
How to talk to children about coronavirus
'The Stay at Home Superheroes'- A Social Story to help explain Covid-19
Place2Be- "Coronavirus: Helpful information to answer questions from children"
Safer Schools- 'What is Coronavirus- A storybook explainer for children.'
MyHappyMind- 'A Kids Guide to Coronavirus'
Childrens Commissioner- 'A childrens guide to Coronavirus'
British Psychological Society- Talking to Children about illness
Resources for SEND children/young people
Daily Planner to help provide structure at home
Autismtrain.co.uk- helping children stay safe and understand 2 metre rule
Department for Education - Returning to school leaflet
Department for Education - Securing good transitions
Continuing education/learning at home
Sunshine Support- self-isolating. Ideas & Advice for home education and SEND
Lincolnshire-based charity Inspire+ have collated a wide range of activities and programmes for both children and parents/guardians at home that will promote being 'Healthy, Happy & Active.' On their social media channels they are also posting daily challenges from staff and ambassadors.
Free education resources
BBC Teach- Thousands of free curriculum-mapped videos arranged by age group and subject.
BrainPop- BrainPop are offering their animated movies on topics in maths, science and English completely free to parents.
BBC Bitesize -Free teaching and revision material for primary, secondary and post-16 students, including advice on studying at home during the pandemic.
5 ways to wellbeing during Covid-19
Evidence suggests there are 5 steps you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing and get the most out of life. These steps are connect, be active, take notice, learn and give. Looking afther our wellbeing is so important during coronavirus, but equally as difficult to do, as many of the things we usually rely on are not available to us.
Click on the buttons below to watch videos from our Healthy minds Lincolnshire service introducing some of the steps. You can also see a list of more examples/ ideas from our peer support workers, who themselves have lived experience of mental health difficulties. Before you take a look, remember that these are ideas and not 'recommendations'- there's no perfect way to get through this period, and everyone is different. That said, we hope these ideas will give you some inspiration and encourage you to find your own way to look after your wellbeing during this difficult period.
Be active
Ideas to help you 'be active'-
- Try home workouts- It you are stuck for ideas have a look at sites like Pinterest or Youtube, you can also try and remember things you learned in P.E. or join in with virtual P.E. lessons. You can also check out NHS gym-free workouts.
- Lincolnshire-based charity Inspire+ have collated a wide range of activities and programmes for both children and parents/guardians at home that will promote being 'Healthy, Happy & Active.' On their social media channels they are also posting daily challenges from staff and ambassadors.
- Utilise your 30mins leisure time out of the house (e.g. walk the dog, ride your bike or short run or walk). Remember social distancing regulations/rules.
- Try practice yoga or Pilates in the house/garden.
- Play ball games in the garden with you family
- Put on your favourite music and dance in your bedroom
- Do housework or organisational tasks (also helps to de-clutter your mind)
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35tXp63L4BI]
Learn
Ideas to help you 'keep learning'
- Try and learn a new spoken language – there are apps that can help you with this.
- Try sign language, search YouTube for sign language songs, try learning your favourite song
- Use what you already have at home! Learn to sew/bake/cook.
- D.I.Y/ upcycle projects
- Online courses- there's loads of free courses at the minute, like free courses from Openlean
- YouTube tutorials
- Makeup & hair & beauty
- Read a new book
- Try brain training activities such as a crossword or Sudoku
- Research something you’ve always wanted to learn about
- Ask other members of you household to teach you a skill they have
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5RNCTfWE64&feature=youtu.be]
Connect
Ideas to help you connect
- Schedule Facetime/phone calls/skype with friends and family.
- Use texts or other messenger apps to keep in contact.
- Spend quality time with people in your house (board games, movie night) – you could schedule in weekly events to create more of a routine and separate the weekdays from the weekends
- Have at least one fixed meal time with the people in your household.
- Play online games with friends (e.g. Xbox, apps)
- Stick messages or postcards in your window for people to spot during their daily exercises.
- Connect with your favourite band or music artist- with lots streaming free 'at home' concerts- a list of some of these is available on Billboard.com
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59gGXMT2JwI&feature=youtu.be]
Give
Ideas to help you 'give to others'
- Text friends and family to make sure they’re okay
- Creative activities – making a digital scrapbook of you and your friends/family that they can access. There is a website called smilebox scrapbook maker you could make this on, or you could do on social media platforms or on a shared icloud gallery.
- Create an “adventure” list with friends of all the things you want to do together. You could do this over the phone, social media, FaceTime etc.
- Do some ‘random acts of kindness’ for the people in your household. These are simple and easy tasks you can do to help the people around you
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzYbCtx9L6I&feature=youtu.be]
Take notice
Ideas to help you 'take notice'
- Listen to your body and what you need- if you're having a particularly difficult day and need to rest, then that's okay. You don't need to be 100% every single day and if you have a day of not doing much, don't spend time beating yourself up.
- Create/make a glitter jar to help you soothe and relax
- Get create and mindful making paper hearts and stars
- To help calm any anxiety and relax, try some progressive muscle relaxation. Healthy Minds Lincolnshire have developed lots of videos on relaxation and breathing exercises on our this section of our site under 'relaxation and self-soothing.'
- If you're new to mindfulness- take a look at the app store for some free apps, or search the web for some free audio meditation guides. There are loads available on the free mindfulness project
- If you're new to mindfulness and want to learn more, there's more information and guides on getselfhelp.com- mindfulness
- Try some mindful colouring - there's some free colouring pages on crayola website and supercoloring website.
- If you have a garden or outside space, take some sitting sitting in this environment and listening to sounds, taking note of smells and things you see.
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gMksAvVci0&feature=youtu.be]
Our CAMHS peer support worker and 'Creative CAMHS' facilitator Becky is giving a tutorials how to stay creative and occupy ourselves during Covid-19.
Remember to post your creations on social media using the #creativecamhs hashtag
Creative CAMHS Week 1: Paper flowers Download written instructions here>>
Creative CAMHS - sock bunnies
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cv5bwtYKfI]
Creative CAMHS - decorating jars
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgPlyYkcJhw&t=17s]
Creative CAMHS - pebble painting
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyK4Rmh8p0]
Creative CAMHS - flower cactus & pot
Download written instructions for plant pot here
Download written instructions for flowering cactus here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_M8XoDouvo&t=7s]
Creative CAMHS - felt animals
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRT_qqCyygA]
Creative CAMHS - cereal box notebook
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQo57jHyBq0]
Creative CAMHS - lollipop bookmarks
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OOlbagWjFQ]
Creative CAMHS - sensory glitter bottles
Download written instructions here
[Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFOGyI9ylJA&list=PLW9DMsXudAdMQIkonUGIb28wp0jTRnIm0&index=10]
