Welcome to the Wellbeing Hub.
The coronavirus pandemic left feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and distress for many of us in our community. Below
are some great tools and resources to support you in managing your mental
health and wellbeing through challenging times.
We've grouped these under the 5 ways to wellbeing - Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn & Give. There is also an additional group for any resources which don't neatly fit into one of the 5 ways to wellbeing.
As always, we are here if you need us and our team is ready to support you. All you need to do is pick up the phone and call us on 0345 3 30 30 30. We can be there if you just need someone to talk to, if you want to work through a particular issue that has been on your mind, or help you to access longer term support services.
Building solid and varied social connections in your life can increase your feelings of happiness and self-worth.
- Talk About It Mate runs digital events where you can share your experiences, make new friends, and support each other
- Arrange a ‘virtual meal’ with a friend or date
- Get some friends online for a free game of Skribbl
- How to join an online meeting
- How to set up an online activity or meeting
- Have a Netflix party with your friends (just don't be that person who talks all the way through the film)
- Watch a movie with your friends and video chat at the same time with TwoSeven
What you do with your body can have a powerful effect on your mental wellbeing. There are loads of ways to stay active whilst enjoying life.
- Get active at home with Couch To Fitness: a free 9 week course
- Instructor Live are offering 3 months of free general fitness classes tailored to beginners
- 8 exercise videos for disabled people during lockdown
- Activity Alliance’s guide to getting active at home
- NHS guide to sitting exercises for older people
- Joe Wicks on YouTube
- Yoga with Adriene on YouTube
- Turn on some
feel good music and have your own dance party
Our minds often get carried away in thought. Giving yourself the time and space to be still and take notice of the world around you. Wake up all the senses - the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment
- Get a change of scenery and have a look out of someone else’s window with Window Swap
- Watch livestreams of nature reserves and animal sanctuaries from around the world
- Download 42nd Street’s Head Space workbook aimed at young people
- Take a look at LGBT Britain through a camera lens with the BFI’s archive
- Make your next walk mindful by taking the time to notice your surroundings
- Download our free Equality Wins LGBT activity book
- Spreadsheet of free LGBT films to watch online
- Patagonia film about trees and forests in Japan and British Columbia – you’ll feel you are there and you’ll always look closely at trees after this.
- Explore the universe with NASA's free media library
- Take a virtual tour of a museum or art gallery
Keeping your brain active is a great way to improve your wellbeing. Why not step out of your comfort zone and learn a new skill?
- Stonewall has a wide range of home learning packs from staying safe online to LGBT History
- Support an indie LGBT bookshop and find yourself a good book to read (not free)
- Have a look at the Queer Zine Archive Project and if inspiration strikes, learn how to make your own zines
- Explore 900,580 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections
- Watch a TED Talk
- Learn a new language for free with Duolingo
- Dive back into something you enjoyed when you were younger with a free tutorial on YouTube
- Learn some new recipes with Jack Monroe
- OpenLearn - Free learning from the Open University
- Future Learn - Free online courses across a range of subjects
- Writing From the Margins - a 16-week course raising the voices of marginalised voices by Otter Lieffe (not free)
- Free online course in ‘cultural emergence’ – learning from nature to think creatively and positively
Whether it is helping a friend, or supporting a cause, doing something for someone else is a great way to improve your wellbeing, whilst putting a smile on someone else's face.
- Get involved with MissingMaps and map the most vulnerable places in the developing world to help humanitarian organisations plan their response in the event of disasters
- Write a letter to a loved one to let them know why you love and appreciate them
- Donate to your local foodbank
- Make a personalised word search and send it to a friend to complete
- Raise money for LGBT Foundation
- Join the Bent Bars project - a penpal scheme for LGBT prisoners
- Support Queercare mutual aid
- Support a local mutual aid group
- Become an NHS volunteer
- Take the NHS' Every Mind Matters quiz and generate your own personal mental health action plan
- Advice from the Co-op on how to stay healthy and entertained at home
- 9 strategies for quarantining in a non-LGBT affirming environment
- Advice from Mind about coronavirus and your wellbeing
- Practical advice and support from akt
- A support hub built with queer, trans, people of colour youth in mind
- Take a look at some good news from Happy Newspaper
