On Monday 18th May we started off Mental Health Awareness Week strong with a workshop delivered to a number of staff at Leicester College. As the theme for this year is ‘Kindness’, we created a focused workshop around Kindness and self-compassion. With a “Zoom room” full of around 15 people we were able to engage in meaningful discussions around defining what kindness and self-compassion is, as well as exploring the ways in which we can practice them. During the workshop we highlighted the importance and benefits of being kind outwardly to others as well as inwards to ourselves. Some of the useful tools we explored to develop our own qualities of kindness included the ‘compassionate self’ imagery and a compassion thought diary. The attendees learnt how to utilise these tools in their routines to increase their sense of wellbeing during these uncertain times as well as in times when they may feel more self-critical. A number of attendees expressed their gratitude for the workshop and said that they found it useful.
Shante (Recovery worker) expressed her enjoyment of the workshop saying: “It was great to engage in meaningful conversations about kindness, as it feels especially important in the world’s current circumstance to encourage kindness within ourselves and our communities”
-Shante & Jeni, Recovery Workers
The theme for mental health awareness week this year was “kindness”, so we delivered a workshop to members of staff at Leicester College that was based on kindness and self-compassion. The aim of this was to empower and equip the staff with resources and skills that will enable them to practice kindness and compassion not only to others, but themselves also. We explored a range of tools that could help members of staff from Leicester College develop a compassionate mindset through imagery, mindfulness, letter writing and thought diaries. One member of staff made an observation that they were not the only one who felt like they lacked compassion towards themselves, which made them feel reassured. All participants informed us that they had enjoyed the workshop and found it useful as it will help them develop self-compassion. Even though there were technical issues at times, this was not a barrier to delivery of the workshop and we both felt attendees had taken something away.
-Alex & Louise, Recovery Workers
On Friday 22nd May, a Kindness Workshop was delivered by Recovery Workers Aliyah and Ravina to Leicester College staff as a part of Mental Health Awareness Week. The workshop consisted of a range of discussions around the concept of kindness and self-compassion to techniques to help increase self-compassion. Techniques such as mindfulness, imagery, thought balancing and compassionate letter writing were all covered as ways to increase our inner self-compassion and kindness.
The discussion flowed throughout the workshop with a range of views being discussed. When discussing the concept of kindness a common theme found was ‘to help others without the intention of receiving anything back’ along with ‘taking time for yourself as well as others’. These were just a few of the many conversation points discussed.
Overall, the recovery workers enjoyed facilitating this workshop and felt the attendees added so much to discussion that it helped keep a good flow and everyone interested. “I feel when delivering a workshop, you are always most excited for different views and discussion points as no two workshops will be the same’’ stated Ravina. Aliyah also added “It’s always lovely to hear that others have so many positive things to say about kindness and there’s never going to be a such thing as too much kindness in the world’’
-Ravina and Aliyah, Recovery Workers
Community Workshops
