On Friday 22nd May as part of Mental Health Awareness week we delivered an online Zoom workshop to approximately seven members of Recovery College. The workshop was based on this year’s theme which is ‘kindness’. As well as exploring the concept of kindness, the workshop also explored skills that can be developed to direct kindness inwards by focusing on self compassion. Throughout the workshop we engaged in group discussion to identify what kindness means and explored ways that we can be kind by looking at The Mental Health Organisation’s article based on 50 random acts of kindness and the generator which selects one at random for each day. We discussed as a group how this could be beneficial in practicing kindness. We then explored self-compassion and discussed this as a group with people in the group saying that it wasn’t something they practiced as it can often bring feelings of guilt. We then discussed self criticism and guilt as barriers to practicing self compassion which we also touched on at the end of the session.
We explored self-compassion as a skill that can be developed and examined resources that can help to develop the self-compassion skill such as self imagery by exploring the ‘compassionate-self’, Mindfulness self compassion, compassionate letter writing and compassion thought diary. Members of the workshop engaged well throughout by asking questions, joining in group discussion and offering advice to one another. At the end of the workshop some of the attendees described the workshop as helpful and beneficial. We want to thank Recovery College for their participation.
Leah (Recovery Worker) said: “It was a joy to present this workshop to individuals committed to the process of self development. Their engagement in the workshop was what made it such a positive and productive experience”
-Jess and Alex, Recovery Workers
A huge thank you to everyone that attended the workshops and took part in discussions!
Community Workshops
