News Archive 2023

It has been a year..

As you probably know, we (Newman and Crawley Mental Health Support) have now been running for just over a year.. We went up.. and down.. within the same building and have nicely settled into our new offices. During the year we saw 86 different people coming  through our doors (counselling clients, EAP therapy clients and supervisees), which resulted in 982 sessions completed!!  We would like to thank you and our referrers for continued support and a massive thank you to all the counsellors who were and are part of our team!

So what is in store for us this year, whilst practising 5 Ways of Wellbeing?

Well, we are starting the long awaited Menopause & Perimenopause Support Group soon and are taking registrations now. We will be running this workshop-like; 12 weeks of spending time with like minded people, all going through the same (power surges / not giving a fly / what the heck), while we are inviting guest speakers relating their professionalism with menopause & perimenopause in the realms of mental health & body health. So we can support each other through this time of our lives. Please contact us and let us know if you want to join us or forward this information to anyone you think might benefit from peer & professional support. 

We are also expanding our team to have even more (low cost) counselling sessions available. You might have noticed that we are now open and available 6 days a week; Monday - Thursday 10am - 8.30pm, Friday & Saturday 10am - 2pm. We still offer open-ended therapy, which means no fixed number of sessions. You can take as long as you need, with the caviat that you do see us weekly. The self-select fee is still applicable - no questions asked! Send us a message and we will send you our intake form. Once you have returned the intake form to us, you could see your counsellor witin a week.. 

Another service we are focussing on this year is Supervision for the helping professionals - Are you customer / client / patient / service user facing at work? Are you dealing daily with difficult situations, other people's emotions, and are you personally affected by this, because you care? We can support you with non-managerial supervision, sometimes called 'reflective practise'. Usually this support takes place once a month, individual or in small groups and during each session we talk through your general wellbeing at work, your daily psychological, physical and social risk fators, while we encourage emotional resourcing and work on your ongoing resilience. We currently support counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches, aid workers, aid work supporters, (NHS) frontline and support staff. Get in touch, so we can support you too!

Now what are these 5 Ways of Wellbeing?

Research carried out by the New Economics Foundation found that there are five ways to wellbeing. Like your 5 a day will help looking after your psysical health, 5 ways of Wellbeing will help look after your mental health. These five ways are : Connect; Be active; Take notice; Keep learning and Give. Health in Mind came up with downloadable posters; one general and one for work. 

We here at NC would like to encourage you to keep your mind in mind this year.. And you can support yourself by regularly connecting with others, stay physically active, notice your thoughts & emotions without getting overwhelmed by them, learn something new (like how not to get overwhelmed by thoughts and emotions) and give by paying it forward..

Whilst utilising our skills in the five ways to wellbing, we attended networking events in and around Southampton in 2023 we spoke to a whole stack of other services that might benefit you too! 

There are several things you can do if you are in crisis and/or want someone to talk to immediately; phone the Samaritans on 116 123 and/or find other ways to get in contact with them here. They even have a self-help app. And if you want to give back / pay it forward; the Samaritans are looking for people to join their volunteering team. Great training and support provided, and in return they ask a minimum of a four hour shift a week.

If you live in Southampton, there is also The Lighthouse in Shirley and in Bitterne - they are a drop in centre and open 365 days a week between 4.30pm and 11.30pm. Please contact them before dropping in..

And do not forget to check out The Saints Foundation!! They support Southampton by delivering projects that respond to the ever-evolving needs of the people in our city. They focus on Health, Education, Gender Equality, Employability and Pathways - with the aim of levelling the playing field.. Your five ways of wellbeing neatly in one package..

Again, thank you for your continued support and we wish you a healthy and interesting 2024!

Kirsty & Gaynor

January 2024

Season's Greetings

As we are nearing the end of the year 2023, all of us here at Newman & Crawley Mental Health Support are wishing you a good ending! We are so aware that many of us have had bad and even devastating endings throughout the years. So how can you enable yourself to have a good ending of this year? 

First of all we suggest you Be Kind to Your Mind - How do you speak to yourself on a day-to-day basis? Is your internal monologue filled with thoughts of kindness and encouragement, or those of fear and worry? Can you be compassionate with yourself? That does not mean that you have to be extremely over the top sugary with yourself - you won't believe yourself anyway when you do that. You know when you need a bit of a talking to or when you need a bit of understanding and acknowledgement of what you are going through. Compassion is about alleviating suffering and also about preventing suffering.

Imagine; you are finally done with the Christmas shopping and are looking forward to flop on the sofa to watch your favourite show. While you are reaching for the remote, in your periphial vision you see someone falling over - badly.. Will you ignore this and put on your favourite show? Not very likely - you will go over there and see if you can help out..

Imagine; you are finally done with the Christmas shopping and are looking forward to flop on the sofa to watch your favourite show. While you are reaching for the remote, in your periphial vision you see someone sticking a metal fork in the toaster that is on! Will you ignore this and put on your favourite show? Not very likely - you might scream, shout, jump up - all to prevent harm.. This is compassion too!

So, Be Kind to Your Mind, life is tough enough as it is!

Another suggestion we have is look at everything you have done and accomplished this year! Yes, we can all make a list (miles and miles long) of all the things we haven't done. Seriously - what's the point of that? List your achievements, celebrate the wins, the enjoyment of walking the dog, eating peanut-butter sandwiches, spending time with friends. Then you can make another list of things you want to do more of in 2024 - concentrate on that! 

As always; First Rule of Therapy - Do NOT make it worse! You might not be able to make it better, but do NOT make it worse.. We are too good at doing that. And for today and any other day following; we suggest to go back to basics: Be mindful with food, water, sleep.. Have enough of everything.. Yes, it might not make your issues go away - they will be easier to carry and deal with.

During the Christmas period our doors will be closed (we need a break too) and they will open again on Tuesday the 2nd of January. Of course you can contact us and although we will read it, we won't respond until we are back. 

While we are away, there are several things you can do if you are in crisis and/or want someone to talk to; phone the Samaritans on 116 123 and/or find other ways to get in contact with them here. They even have a self-help app. If you live in Southampton, there is also The Lighthouse in Shirley and in Bitterne - they are a drop in centre and open 365 days a week between 4.30pm and 11.30pm. 

All of us here at Newman & Crawley Mental Health Support wish you a good ending & are looking forward to working with you in 2024!

Kirsty & Gaynor

December 2023