There are many ways you can enhance your well-being
We have included below some tips from our PSW webinar to help promote well-being. Ultimately, talking with someone you
trust can be a hugely helpful process. Most of the time, how you are feeling are normal reactions to difficult situations, and
not a sign that you are weak or can't do your job. In fact, acknowledging and talking about things when they are difficult
shows insight, courage and strength.
Taking care of the basics:
It's important to remember to take care of your basic needs. Whilst this seems obvious, it is surprising how often we
can find ourselves lacking in sleep and nutrition. Without taking care of these basic needs, other aspects of life can
become more difficult to manage. Our basic needs represent the foundations on which we can grow and thrive.
Take time to tune in:
Taking time to pause and tune in to how you are doing, both physically and psychologically, can be one of the most useful
well-being strategies. It's easy to stay busy and not find time to do this, but even taking 10 minutes to check in with you
can help you to notice if you are feeling stressed, tense or even just hungry.
Doing this can enable you to do something about it.
Identify your recharge activities:
Identifying those activities that help you feel recharged and re-energised is important for sustaining yourself in
the long-term. If we don't take the time to invest in these recharging activities, we can risk burning out. These
recharge activities differ for everyone, but some of the examples individual's have shared with us include walking,
socialising, baking or cooking, gardening, yoga and reading - to name a few.
An apple a day:
There are many ways you can manage your anxiety, and the above 'apples' model can be a useful one to practice.
Breathing exercises can be useful here, as well as practicing mindfulness.
Develop your growth mindset:
Reflecting on challenging times can help us to understand what helped get us through, what a wellness action plan
could be for us in the future when we encounter more challenges. Using the above SSRI model helps us to develop
a growth mindset and to better psychologically prepare ourselves for the future.
Free well-being webinars:
- WARD have made available on their YouTube channel four videos exploring topics such as moral injury and burnout, self-care, positive psychology and wellbeing, which you can watch here.
- NHS Horizons hold webinars on the second Wednesday of every month, with different wellbeing focuses - including finances, leadership, working parents, preparing for winter, psychological safety and many more. You can register your interest in upcoming webinars, and review previously recorded webinars here.
Useful well-being resources*:
- Samaritans (Call 116 123)
- Frontline-19 - free & confidential psychological support for frontline staff
- Project5 - free well-being support services for health/care workers
- BMA Wellbeing (Call 0330 123 1245)
- Practitioner Health (text ‘PHP’ to 85258) (Call 0300 0303 300)
- Our NHS People have put together a resource list, including access to a confidential staff support line - 0300 131 7000
- Breathe-uk - A number of fully funded counselling sessions
- Help for Heroes have put together a Field Guide for Self-Care for NHS staff
- Tea and Empathy Facebook Support Group
- Every Mind Matters - tips to help you deal with stress and anxiety, improve your sleep, boost your mood and feel more in control
- Supporting GPs Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Get self help
- Net Doctor
- Living Life to the Full
- Depression Alliance - The leading UK charity for people affected by depression.
- Doc Health - A confidential, not for profit, psycho-therapeutic consultation service for all doctors.
- Doctors Support Network - Provision of ongoing confidential advice and support to doctors with mental health problems.
- Mind - Wellness action Plan
- Relate - The UK’s largest relationship counselling organisation helping people to work through their relationship difficulties.
- Resilience - Looking after yourself so you can better care for others
- The Resilient GP Facebook group - serves as a support group for over 8000 GPs, practice nurses, practice managers and other members of a GP Surgery’s Team. The site acts as a chat room where colleagues can discuss the challenges of modern day general practice. We also act as a signposting service, advising members of specific organisations and individuals that can help them personally and professionally.
*The above resources do not represent content endorsement by NHS England; the resource section above serves as a platform to host accessible information that may be useful to doctors in training wishing to look after their mental health and wellbeing