These weekly newsletters will help you to support families, children and young people during the Coronavirus period with opportunities to follow the 5 Ways for Wellbeing:
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Keep learning
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Connect
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Take notice
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Give
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Be active
Through this period of change and difference, when we are all asked to stay alert to the coronavirus, we are supporting this by, sending out bulletins to help everyone stay Healthy, Happy and Safe.
Each Bulletin will focus on 1 of the the 5 ways to wellbeing and is linked with our partner website
https://www.healthysomerset.co.uk/covid-19/
Please click on the blue links below to access this bulletins items
Advice & Tips
Taking notice allows us to focus on the present moment, can help you feel in control and reduce worries and thoughts of the past or future, helping to manage anxiety and low mood.
The Somerset Emotion Coaching Project 2020/21
Over the next twelve months EHCAP will run a series of Mindful Emotion Coaching and Adverse Childhood Experience or MACE workshops.
These are likely to be a mix of online and face to face workshops/webinars depending on how things develop over time with the coronavirus pandemic.
The MACE approach draws extensively on research from Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, the applied neuroscience of Dan Siegel and David Eagleman, as well as John Gottman’s Emotion Coaching. Dan Siegel’s Hand Model metaphor of the brain has become the backbone of the programme and his Mindsight resources including the ‘Wheel of Awareness’ are popular in developing mindful activities.
Information about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and effects on long term physical and mental health were added to the core attachment awareness material in 2018 with an inclusion exercise for staff. Self care and safeguarding remain the golden thread through the whole approach.
Although the training is aimed at school staff, if you work with children and young people and interested in the training please register your interest, including your role or agency, and we will consider your application.
The web page to find out more and to express interest in attending MACE training is www.emotioncoachingsomerset.co.uk
Young Somerset has launched their virtual hubs! 
This is a safe online space designed for young people and parents/ guardians to find out about what services are available for you in your area. We'll also have informative workshops every week led by Young Somerset's team, providing professional advice and guidance on how to maintain positive Wellbeing, and look after your Mental Health.
When? |
What? |
Where? |
Monday @ 16:00 |
Hub for Young People |
Instagram - @yswellbeing |
Monday @ 16:00 |
Hub for Parents |
Facebook - @youngsomerset |
Friday @ 16:00 |
Hub for Young People |
Instagram - @yswellbeing |
The Hub workshops can be accessed using the relevant platforms at the days and times detailed above. Professional advice and guidance on services available for young people in your area can be accessed at the below times through the Fancy A Chat Service.
Mental Wellbeing Lifehacks for coping with Covid-19
No 5: Check in with your emotions
Keeping track of how you’re feeling can be really helpful. Having a notebook, diary, journal or mood book can help you understand how you’re feeling as time passes. Keep a memory or an achievement jar, you could also write down things that make you feel bad and shred them. Maybe there’s a pattern to how you feel? Is it certain times of the week or month? Is it to do with people that you’re spending time with? Is it caused by something that's happening at home or from watching the news? Reflecting on and recording how you are feeling can help make things feel more manageable. Make sure you know how and where to get help if you need.
For more information on Mental Wellbeing Lifehacks for coping with Covid-19 Click Here
Remember to take notice of our mental health and when we might need to talk to someone
Young People’s Mental Health Helpline Now ‘Live’
01823 276892
The opportunity to talk to someone who can listen, advise and support on how to take care of ourselves is of vital importance for keeping ourselves emotionally well and getting the right support for our Mental Health. Open 24 hours a day, seven-days a week and is operated by people in your local area who will know how best to support you.
Activities and Ideas
Take Notice – being curious encourages us to be more aware of our surroundings, catching sight of the beautiful, remarking on the unusual
Five Reasons to use the Natural Environment to Enhance Children’s Health, Wellbeing and Learning - 
- Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Physical Health
- Mindfulness
- Behaviour
- Social Connectedness
To find out more about these areas, please click Here
Physical activity in the great outdoors is a great way to Take Notice! We also know that getting outside and engaging in nature is calming and helps us de-stress
Somerset Outdoor Curriculum has been launched to support the continued re-opening of schools and is good for families too:
There are many benefits to being in an outdoor environment and with many schools extending their provision the Outdoor Learning Curriculum has been developed to support schools to utilise their outdoor spaces (which on average makes up 70% of school’s available footprint for learning) In the current situation this curriculum enables:
- Chance for young people to spread out
- Enjoy the widely researched and documented health and wellbeing benefits of being in outdoor spaces and closer to nature
- Be more active, enhancing pupil learning
- Create opportunities for reconnection and bonding
- Support staff wellbeing
Outdoor Learning Top Tips resources are available Here
Taking Notice promotes mind/body connection bringing an awareness of what our bodies need
Staying active helps to keep both your mind and body healthy. If you’re having trouble finding the motivation watch this helpful video from Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership - SASP. Helping you stay healthy, happy and safe with Healthy Somerset!
www.facebook.com/somersetcountycouncil/videos/859113541250289/
Taking notice of our emotions and being aware of how we feel, can help to reduce there intensity
This resource helps us to take notice of our thoughts by checking in with ourselves using this anxiety thermometer - a great way for children to share with adults
This Emotions Talk resource supports Children & Young People to reflect upon and share their emotional experiences, www.elsa-support.co.uk/emotions-talk/
For more Elsa support resources visit the website Here
For more ideas to help you Take Notice click Here
Weblinks and Apps 
Coping with coronavirus: a guide for young people
This guidance was produced together with the MHF Young Leaders. Assembled in partnership with Leaders Unlocked, The MHF Young Leaders are a diverse group of young people with a wealth of general life and specific mental health experiences who are helping to shape our work with families, children and young people.
www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus/coping-coronavirus-guide-young-people
Free Online Mindfulness Sessions through the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC)
The OMC are offering free online introduction to mindfulness courses. I expect we have often heard of Mindfulness, so take some time to find out about this practice, how to include mindful experiences into your life and the benefits that have scientifically been proven through this approach.
Mindfulness really supports us to Take Notice of our environment, mind, body, thoughts and soul.
hwww.oxfordmindfulness.org/free-online-mindfulness-course-sessions/
Somerset Libraries have created Wellbeing video resources linked to the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
This video provides a short guide to the best websites and resources out there to help you to take notice and stay mentally healthy
Mindful opportunities
Taking notice brings our mind and attention to the here & now, helping reduce stress and anxiety and take a break from being caught up in stories of the mind which we all experience.
Mindful senses awareness activities
We all have a wondering mind and in mindfulness we are invited to take notice of where the mind has wondered and gently practice returning the mind with kindness to the focus of our attention.
These ideas offer a way to bring a mindful approach into our lives, helping engage all our senses, bringing a present moment awareness into everyday experiences.
Watch an introduction to the Mindful Senses Awareness Activities
Action for Happiness: Live Life Mindfully 
Learning to be more mindful and aware can do wonders for our well-being in all areas of life - like our walk to work, the way we eat or our relationships. It helps us get in tune with our feelings and stops us dwelling on the past or worrying about the future - so we get more out of the day-to-day.
For more Live Life Mindfully ideas take a look at the Action for Happiness page Here
This guided 3 step breathing space meditation from Professor Mark Williams invites us to take notice and become aware of the present moment.
Welcome to Happy Place Virtual Festival
12th June - 12th July
We’re excited to present a month-long schedule full of passionate people promoting mental and physical wellbeing! Roam around our virtual grounds and find inspiration from the amazing performances, tutorials, and speakers that are making this festival so special!
Connect your mind and body, unlock your creativity, and find your Happy Place!
The festival is completely free, but we encourage you to donate to our wonderful charity partners.
https://www.happyplacefestival.com/
