Lockdown has required us to make significant changes to our lives and lifestyles and created a great deal of uncertainty for many people. Those of us working in mental health services have obviously been concerned about how our patients, who are already struggling significantly, will cope during lockdown. Services have had to reduce the usual face to face support we give to our service users and we’ve needed to make huge changes in the way we help and support our patients when we can’t have physical contact with them.
5 Ways of Well-being Model
Here at Maudsley Learning, we are all committed to the 5 Ways of Well-being Model of mental health recovery and well-being. This model proposes that lifelong learning, exercise, connecting, giving and mindfulness are key to ensuring mental health and well-being and Lockdown has certainly highlighted to us on a personal level how true this is. How do we maintain our sense of self and worth when our usual routes to well-being are disrupted? How do we support our patients in their recovery when our usual care and treatment plans have been put on hold for now?
Dr Schilderman set out to see how clinicians and service users could be supported at this time and what resources are available, if you are indoors for long periods. She collaborated with the Skills and Employment Team (ETE) at Wandsworth St Mungo’s to create a 19 page exhaustive list of incredible resources for anyone to use. Initially the list focussed on the 5 Ways to Well-being but each category was subdivided into others and became an amazing all encompassing resource. There is something there for everyone; cooking on a budget, virtual museum tours, concerts, sewing, archaeology courses, music tuition, free music apps; kids activities, arts and crafts fitness challenges and even ways to give in lockdown.
Lots of the resources do rely on internet connection but some are printable too. We’re sharing it here for everyone to access and use as they wish. Many of us in the team have already been using it ourselves.
List of resources during lockdown
Mental Health Courses for Practitioners
As a mental health practitioner, you may also want to expand your knowledge and refine your skills in patient care by taking an online course. Discover our mental healthcare courses to help equip yourself to deal with the professional skills needed to care for your patients during lockdown effectively.
This article is based on current scientific evidence and clinical expertise of our mental health professionals and researchers at Maudsley Learning, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.
If you have any comments on this article, would like to collaborate with us, or simply want to say hello please don’t hesitate to connect with us on socials or drop us an email. If you want more learning from us, visit our mental health courses page. For all Covid-19 related information please visit our mental health and Covid-19 hub.