On Monday the 18th May, Recovery Workers Jess and Alex presented a Workshop on Kindness and Compassion to staff and clients at Voluntary Action Leicester (VAL). 10 people in total attended via Zoom. We spoke about kindness and what it means to us. As well, what acts of kindness we have received or given. We discussed the importance of being social with friends, family and strangers. Something that is very important currently. Will discussed how before lockdown he was not particularly close with his neighbours, however now they have been helping each other out more. A perfect example of how difficult situations can bring people together. We also learnt about how we can be more self-compassionate. When discussing how we already do this, one member said she enjoys going for walks and runs. Due to not being at work she said it is important to keep busy and keep a routine.
During the Workshop we went through different methods that we can practice in our own time to be more compassionate to ourselves. One of the resources was compassionate writing. A member said she currently keeps a journal and writes positive things that have happened everyday. She highlighted that this has been important to her since she has been furloughed, to keep a positive mind-set.
The mental health organisation has released an article on 50 random acts of kindness. We asked the group to have a look and pick a random act of kindness for today. The feedback was that this was a fantastic idea and a good way to think of something kind to do each day.
At the end of the workshop, Jess and Alex emphasized the importance of being kind to ourselves and one another during these extraordinary times.
-Jess and Alex, Recovery Workers
On Tuesday 19th May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week we delivered a Kindness Workshop to a team of VAL staff and clients. VAL also known as Voluntary Action Leicestershire is a charity whose goal for the last 50 years has been to change lives for the better in Leicester and Leicestershire by providing advice, support and training to charities and community groups. It was a great chance to explore various concepts and have some meaningful conversations based around self-compassion and how we can practice this. Attendees felt they learnt helpful tools/techniques to help them better understand and practice self-compassion which was particularly important during the current worldwide situation we are all facing. One attendee explained “I felt that this workshop was an opportunity to be self-reflective and I’ve found that very beneficial’’. Another added, “this workshop came at a great time, it was nice to be able to discuss views and interact with others’’.
Overall, it was an informative workshop covering the concept of kindness, self-compassion and tools in which we can better both kindness and self-compassion. However, from facilitating and hosting this workshop it was great to hear the vast amount of kind acts we conduct day to day without noticing. As a group we were all able to share, situations where we have done something kind for both others and ourselves unknowingly. Ravina & Shante (hosts) both expressed their feelings after the workshop “We feel it was lovely to walk away from delivering the Workshop knowing there are unlimited amounts of acts of kindness someone can do but the positive effect it can have on both the giver and receiver will be remembered forever’’.
-Shante and Ravina, Recovery Workers
Community Workshops
