Wellbeing Ambassadors by worth-it

WELLBEING

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Wellbeing & Resilience

Thank you for taking part in the Wellbeing Ambassadors workshop.

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Becoming a Wellbeing Ambassador is an important opportunity for you to help improve the mental health and wellbeing of other young people in your setting. You will become a role model to others and learn ways to improve wellbeing through learning and practising skill and strategies that help improve wellbeing and reduce stress. You will be able to use these skills, tools and strategies to help other young people in your setting. This handbook contains guidance and instructions for how to become a Wellbeing Ambassador.

Support for you as a Wellbeing Ambassador

Ensuring the Wellbeing Ambassadors are supported to look after their own mental health and wellbeing is a key element to the success of this approach in your setting Wellbeing Ambassadors are advised to follow their setting’s Safeguarding Procedures and steps should be taken by staff to ensure that they feel supported and understand their role in relation to safeguarding.

Worth-it is not responsible for the ongoing supervision and management of the Wellbeing Ambassadors. If you have immediate concerns you should talk to staff in school/setting. •

Email: info@worthit.org.uk

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Tel: 0300 323 3230

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Web: www.worthit.org.uk

This Handbook has been produced for trained Wellbeing Ambassadors. The content of this handbook is only to be used by people that have attended the Wellbeing Ambassadors workshop.

Wellbeing & Resilience

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Draw a mind map of what you think wellbeing is...

Wellbeing is….

Our definition of wellbeing is...

Wellbeing & Resilience

Wellbeing Ambassadors is a peer support project that trains young people to help other young people in their setting improve mental health and wellbeing.

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What is a Wellbeing Ambassador?

What are our aims?

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

Wellbeing & Resilience

Ways to overcome barriers

Barriers they face

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What are the barriers young people face when getting help for their mental health?

How can the Wellbeing Ambassadors help remove barriers to mental health support for young people in our setting?

Wellbeing & Resilience

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

Every setting has its own unique way of providing support for young people.

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Where do young people find out about the support that is available for them?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important the young people in your setting know who they can go to for support in the first instance. Who would this be in your setting?

How do young people access the support in your setting?

How can you build awareness of how to get support in your setting?

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

Wellbeing & Resilience

A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be admired and worked towards by others, especially by younger people. Thinking about people you admire and who are your role models can make you feel inspired and motivated. We can also recognise the things we admire in other people are the things that are important to us and we admire in ourselves. This is important for our mental health and wellbeing.

The things they are good at are...

Their strengths are...

What I admire about them isâ&#x20AC;Ś

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The person I admire is...

Their positive character traits areâ&#x20AC;Ś

Compare the things you admire about them to yourself. Are there any differences?

What are the similarities?

How can this help you be a wellbeing role model for other young people in your setting?

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

Wellbeing & Resilience

Safeguarding helps everyone, you, other Wellbeing Ambassadors and staff, to work together to stop abuse happening and prevent it happening in the future.

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We have safeguarding procedures to help keep people safe. This includes you and the peers you are working with. Worth-it advises that you read your setting/school’s safeguarding policy and know who the named Child Protection Officer is within the setting/ school. You will discuss any concerns you have with your key member of staff and the Child Protection Officer in your school/setting.

If the following situations occur, speak to your key member of staff or named Child Protection Officer at your setting. •

If a young person tells you that they are at risk of harm or that you know someone else that is at risk or in danger, talk to your key member of staff to get some advice about what to do next. If you have concerns about a situation or a friend, it is important that you talk to the key member of staff and the Child Protection Officer in your setting. They can help to keep you safe and make sure that you or your friends get support to help during difficult times.

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Your setting's/school’s key member of staff and Child Protection Officer will provide you will support and advice about how best to support other young people.

Safeguarding is in place to help everyone live a happy, safe life, you are entitled to this and it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure that can happen.

Wellbeing & Resilience

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Takes responsibility for their own mental health and wellbeing

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Think they have to be perfect and know all the answers

Uses strategies to help with their own mental health and wellbeing

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Take on responsibility for other people’s mental health problems

Asks for help when needed

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Think they have to manage things themselves

Recognises what is and isn’t their responsibility

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Keep concerns to themselves

Is clear about their role and boundaries

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Think they have to do everything at once or takes on too much and feel overwhelmed

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Try to fix other people’s problems

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Diagnose or label mental health problems in others

Acts as a role model to other young people

Works on improving their own wellbeing and positive mental health to support others with theirs

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Signposts people to appropriate support, such as staff responsible for mental health and wellbeing

Promotes the Wellbeing Ambassadors Project

Is enthusiastic and motivating

Leads by example

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Is kind and supportive

Acts as part of a team

My tips

Wellbeing & Resilience

Think of a list of signs and symptoms to help you spot stress in others. 1. 2.

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3. 4. 5.

What are your signs and symptoms to help you spot stress in yourself? 1.

3. 4. 5.

How can knowing this help you?

Wellbeing & Resilience

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

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Fill your stress bin with the different things that make you feel stressed. Use different sized paper to represent the level of stress you feel.

What are some of the ways you can take the stress out of your bin? 1.

3. 4.

ÂŠ Worth-it Positive Education CIC 2018

Wellbeing & Resilience

Learn to Pause - The 10-Second Pause This can be done anytime and anywhere. Make a conscious effort to have plenty of these pauses throughout the day. Breathe in slowly and deeply to the count of five, expanding your abdomen as you do so.

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Put both feet flat on the floor and your hands in your lap.

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Breathe out slowly to the count of five, maintaining the spinal stretch that happened as you breathed in.

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Let your breathing become natural and get on with the next task at hand.

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Use the 10-second pause at the beginning and the end of each task or section of a task.

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Use it while travelling when someone keeps you waiting, during breaks, or at home after school.

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Try to fit at least three pauses into the most active part of your day.

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The last of these might seem surprising, but short relaxation pauses during the day prevents the over stimulation of your system that can lead to insomnia.

W.A.S.P.

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The following exercise is for use in emergencies - e.g. sitting in a traffic jam when you are late. This can also be helpful in controlling unpleasant panic attacks. It is called ‘W.A.S.P.’ for short. WAIT – Say ‘stop’ to yourself.

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ABSORB – Take a deep breath, breathe out slowly and pull shoulders down, absorb the situation. Tell yourself to relax and stop fussing.

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SLOWLY – When you feel calm, slowly PROCEED – Carry on with what you were doing but in a more relaxed frame of mind.

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How I can help other young people reduce stress

Wellbeing & Resilience

What are positive coping skills? Coping means being able to deal with problems and troubles encountered in life.

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Coping skills are methods a person uses to deal with stressful situations or when dealing with life’s difficulties.

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These are skills and strategies we can learn and share with others.

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Positive coping skills also help us when faced with challenges, dealing with setbacks or failures, when we feel overwhelmed and when we are dealing with difficult emotions.

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Learning and practising positive coping skills greatly contributes to maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing.

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To develop coping strategies, try taking the following actions (tips to share with other young people) •

Challenge negative self-talk. Try to focus more on positives about yourself rather than the negatives. The less you bring yourself down, the better you feel about yourself.

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Talk to people who can support you. Opening up, whether it’s to a best friend, a close family member or a counsellor, can be helpful. (See Asking for help, for more information)

• Relax. Breathe. A little relief can go a long way towards helping you reflect on your situation and what you can can do for yourself. You may want to try deep breaths, a long walk or other tips on the checklist.

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Distract yourself. Try not to spend all your time and energy thinking about your problem. Keep yourself occupied. Keeping busy can help lift your mood and may even offer opportunities to channel your emotions into positive outlets.

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Get involved in other enjoyable activities so that you don’t focus exclusively on your problem.

To manage stressful situations or emotions there are a few calming and distraction techniques that provide positive coping strategies. Complete the coping strategy checklist on the next page.

Wellbeing & Resilience

In this workshop we have covered Partnership agreement

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Our responsibilities as a Wellbeing Ambassador

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What is wellbeing

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Being a wellbeing role model

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What are wellbeing Ambassadors

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Safeguarding

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What are our aims

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How to spot stress

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Barriers to support

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Raising awareness of support for mental health and wellbeing

How to help reduce stress in ourselves and others

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Positive coping strategies

What are our actions?

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What are my next steps? 1.

Wellbeing & Resilience

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www.worthit.org.uk

Wellbeing & Resilience