wellspring, Author at Wellspring Therapy & Training

Resilience – Part 3 – External Factors

July 10, 2020 By wellspring

For the final part in this resilience series of blogs we will be looking at external factors that support us.

As mentioned previously, when faced with adversity we can draw on our own internal resources; who we are, and what we can do. In addition, we can draw on external resources; in essence, ask for help.

So what exactly do our external resources look like?

They will be unique to each one of us. The most obvious is our social support structure; our family, friends, co-workers etc. The good news is we do not have to have perfect relationships with all of these people, or a perfect family history, we just need to identify who can be there for us, and then engage with asking them for help. Our external resources also come from our education and learning experiences, our skills, our financial education, and our wider community. We never need all of these aspects at once, and we can take small steps to improve one of these areas at a time, and that in turn will build our resilience. What small thing could you learn today? Who could you reach out to ask for help? How could you help someone in need today? Giving and receiving help can build resilience.

And as a final note, Wellspring can be one of those external support structures for supporting anyone who is struggling to make these changes on their own.

If you want further information, have a look at these resources:

www.resiliencedoughnutuk.com

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/ developing-resilience/

Written by Alex Brook-Dobson

See our Resources page for more support and links.

Whilst our building is currently closed for face-to-face counselling until further notice, we are still offering sessions over the phone or through Zoom. Please note, however, that we have a reduced capacity at the moment. If you would like to refer yourself for counselling, please use the contact details at the bottom of the page.

Resilience – Part 2 – Emotional Intelligence

July 3, 2020 By wellspring

The second aspect of our own internal resilience support systems can be described as our Emotional Intelligence.

It is unrealistic for all of us to expect life to be smooth and without emotional upsets, and clearly with our common latest challenge of Covid 19, we have no previous specific life experience to draw on. But we do have our emotional skills that can be used in any environment. As Victor Frankl famously said,

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

So how do we do that exactly?

Well, we draw on certain skills of self-awareness, labelling and measuring our emotions and self-regulating. We can also grow our optimism and express our emotions in a useful and helpful way. Again, as with last week’s internal awareness of our unique skills, we do not have to be excellent at all of these aspects to have strong mental health and we can boost each individual area a small amount to improve our sense of wellbeing and resilience. If we can have have some patience around improving rather than perfecting, we can see progress and growth in resilience.

So to start with, we can ask ourselves how we are feeling.

Try to be exact as possible, label that emotion as specifically as you can. There are charts on the internet or apps too assist with this. Then examine how strong or weak that feeling is, gain some perspective around it. Then share it, express it and let it go in time. Depending on the emotion, this can be relatively straightforward or exceedingly challenging, but really sitting with it and exploring how it feels in your body, how it impacts your breathing or your heart rate can help create some distance between the feeling and you.

We never stop learning about ourselves and no one gets this right all the time, but the good news is we can become more skilled at it, and subsequently build confidence around our ability to cope…our resilience.

Here are a few resources to help if you are interested in finding out more:

The Mood meter app for labelling, perspective and responding to emotions

www.thebodyandmindcoach.com/the-feeling-wheel/

Podcast Feel Better Live More No 60: The secret to solving the stress cycle

Written by Alex Brook-Dobson

See our Resources page for more support and links.

Whilst our building is currently closed for face-to-face counselling until further notice, we are still offering sessions over the phone or through Zoom. Please note, however, that we have a reduced capacity at the moment. If you would like to refer yourself for counselling, please use the contact details at the bottom of the page.

Job Vacancy: Head of Fundraising & Promotion

June 30, 2020 By wellspring

Job Vacancy: Head of Fundraising & Promotion

(Maternity Cover for Executive Director)

21-25 hours per week

Wellspring is a Christian charity based in Starbeck, North Yorkshire that offers affordable counselling and training to adults and young people.

Wellspring’s current Executive Director has been in post since June 2015. In the Autumn of 2020, she is due to start her maternity leave. This has given us an exciting opportunity to develop a new role within the team: Head of Fundraising and Promotion.

We are looking for a hard-working, driven team player who is passionate about promoting our cause with the aim of generating increased financial and relational support for the organisation.

The three main objectives of this role will be:

To provide leadership, together with trustees and the management team, through maintaining a culture in line with Wellspring’s values and vision.
To lead in maintaining and developing the organisations’ external relationships with stakeholders, donors, and other external bodies, leading to the promotion and increased financial support of the charity.
To be responsible for all areas of fundraising to ensure the charity’s longevity and sustainability.

The charity is still in a time of development and growth, since moving into larger premises in 2018, to expand its services. Therefore, there is a possibility this role will be continued beyond a maternity cover position. This will be reviewed subject to the organisation’s needs and finances.

It is a genuine occupational requirement for this post holder to be a Christian, able to uphold and implement Wellspring’s Christian ethos, vision and values.

To request an application pack please email: jobs@wellspringtherapy.co.uk

Application deadline: midnight on Sunday 19^th July 2020.

Interviews on Tuesday 4^th August 2020.

If you have any questions about the role, please contact Emily Fullarton via email director@wellspringtherapy.co.uk or phone 07716561967

Resilience – Part 1 – Who We Are

June 26, 2020 By wellspring

When faced with adversity resilience means we do one, or both, of these things. We rely on helping ourselves and/or we ask for help.

If we start with the first aspect of our resilience, helping ourselves, we can see this comes from finding our strength in who we are. We aren’t born with greater or lesser amounts of resilience than the next person; we learn resilience. It can be enhanced or undermined through relationships, but as a starting point we all have the ability to grow our levels of resilience. We can build it, like a muscle, to weave our parachute before we need to use it.

Where do we start?

Well, we start wherever we are, with our own unique set of internal resources; who we are. We may be attuned to our own level of competence, or completely out of touch with it, but building resilience can occur by reminding ourselves of the following attributes.

Our self care practices. How we take care of ourselves through nutrition, exercise, getting outdoors and speaking kindly to ourselves. (see previous blog entry)
A growth mindset. Recognising that we can learn from situations and get more competent.
Awareness of our values. Knowing what they are and living by them.
Assertiveness. Asking for what we need.
Helping others, with empathy and compassion, and applying that to ourselves!
Perseverance /self-control/ grit.
Ability to fail and get back up again/ letting go of perfectionism.
Taking the long view, having a goal and working towards it.
Awareness of our own unique strengths.

Each of these areas can be seen as a lifetime’s work, and yet each one can be boosted in little ways everyday.

We all have these skills and attributes but a bit like our physical muscles, we can build more strength, flexibility and tolerance. As a list that might seem a bit overwhelming but just chose one area today to find out about yourself and your strengths a little bit more.

Or have a look at these resources:

www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en

www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/brief-strengths-test

Written by Alex Brook-Dobson

See our Resources page for more support and links.

Whilst our building is currently closed for face-to-face counselling until further notice, we are still offering sessions over the phone or through Zoom. Please note, however, that we have a reduced capacity at the moment. If you would like to refer yourself for counselling, please use the contact details at the bottom of the page.

Wellspring is looking for a new Treasurer – could it be you?

June 23, 2020 By wellspring

Wellspring is a charity based in Starbeck, North Yorkshire that offers affordable counselling and training to adults and young people.

We are looking for a new Treasurer to join our trustee board (voluntary role). We have a dedicated Finance Officer and so the role of Treasurer is to help oversee the finance of our charity, not to be involved in the day to day finance duties.

Our mission is to provide affordable therapeutic support to people in the Harrogate district suffering with emotional distress, and good mental health training to the public. We are passionate about enabling adults & young people to find healing and seeing them move towards positive emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. We know our work saves and transforms lives.

The charity was founded in 2003 and has steadily grown over the years. Since moving into our new premises in August 2018, our services have continued to expand to meet the needs of the community.

Volunteers play an important role at Wellspring. We have around 30 volunteer counsellors and over 20 other roles. The growing staff team is led by our Executive Director, who is supported by service leads and who make up Wellspring’s management team.

The charity is overseen by an energetic Board of Trustees who meet 4-6 times a year with the Executive Director. This team of dedicated trustees with a variety of skills help steer the charity and shape its future as we continue to grow and develop our services.

At the heart of all our activity are our Christian ethos and values. These inform and motivate the decisions made by the trustees and management team. We offer our counselling and training services to all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or cultural background and to people of any faith or none. However, because of our Christian ethos we believe that every young person and adult in the Harrogate district matters to God, which leads us to do everything we can to provide the support they need.

If you are a Christian, have financial qualifications and some experience of charity finance, we would like to hear from you! By supporting the board of trustees in overseeing the charity’s financial affairs you will have an opportunity to help a local charity make a big difference.

For more info or to express your interest, please contact Emily Fullarton on director@wellspringtherapy.co.uk.