Emotional Well-Being at Wyke

This week marks Transgender Awareness Week and our blog post hopes to take a step in helping to raise awareness amongst our student and staff population and beyond. So, what does Transgender mean? A person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. Gender is different from sex. Sex is the biological term for determining whether someone was born with X or Y chromosomes. Gender is a social construct to which traits are ascribed as either ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’. Someone’s gender does not define their sexual orientation – often these two are distinct.Gender is a spectrum across which many people identify in many ways. What can I do to help? Approaching transgender people with respect, awareness, and a desire to learn about gender is an important step in making sure you don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Take some time to research more about gender identities and langauge. The following websites provide a great place to start. https://www.glaad.o...

Covid-19 has brought uncertainty for us all, face to face services have been reduced and lots of interactions are now taking place via Teams or Zoom calls. Remote working will affect everyone differently, some may find it useful, for some it may alleviate anxieties, for others it may cause anxieties. There are lots of things you can do to keep yourself feeling well, here are 4 suggestions you can try to promote better emotional wellbeing; Sleep - if we do not sleep well, this affects our concentration, mood and how our bodies function. Having a good sleep routine is very important as it will help you to relax and ensure you are fit and well. Sleep suggestions: Take a bath or shower before you go to bed Read a book or listen to calming mindfulness music Switch off devices an hour before you go to bed Try to keep your phone out of your room at bedtime Have a set sleep time, for example, 10:30pm to 7:30am Try not to sleep during the day Don’t focus on having to get to sleep,...

Lockdown lows or a chance to set new goals? As the country heads into a second lockdown have a think about things you can do to keep yourself feeling well both physically and mentally. The good news is support is available. Think about your daily maintenance plan – what keeps you feeling good and functioning well? This could be as simple as having a good sleep routine, eating well, and getting regular exercise. This doesn’t have to be anything specific and you may find that your normal exercise plan changes as things stop for the lockdown. Getting out for a walk can really help to clear your head and make you feel great. You could set yourself a goal during lockdown to try a new hobby or complete something you have wanted to but have not had chance. Don’t forget you can use online resources if you need: www.togetherall.com - a safe online community for mental health support 24/7. You can access this for free using your college email address. www.kooth.com - free, safe and confide...

World Smile Day and World Mental Health Day are both important dates in October. At Wyke we are marking both days on Friday 9th and Monday 12th October. Please join us in wearing yellow on both dates. You can join in discussions around mental health and wellbeing with your friends, family and your Wyke community. Pop along to the wellbeing desk in the atrium on both dates and join in the activities. You can also collect a yellow ribbon from the desk to wear to acknowledge world mental health day. What happens every day to make you smile? Here are a few of ours; Chatting with friends Chocolate, need we saw more! Watching films A smile from someone Sunny autumn days A lovely message from a friend Receiving Flowers Spending time with pets A great song Praise Think about what makes you smile. Take care everyone!

In today’s current climate there are many issues for people to feel anxious about, whether it is COVID 19, starting college, moving friendship groups, we all have those feelings of nervousness. If those feelings don’t pass we can develop Anxiety. Try the following when you are feeling anxious; Go outside- go for a walk, run, sit in the garden Listen to music- find soothing songs that lift your mood Take deep breaths- breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth Keep hydrated, drink plenty of water Journal- write about how you are feeling Read a book Ask for help Create something- colour, paint, draw If you would like to talk about how you are feeling, come along to the wellbeing drop-in sessions in Oak 56, sessions are as follows; Monday- 09:30am to 10:30am Thursday- 12:40pm to 1:40pm Friday 10:20am to 11:20am You can also email wellbeing@wyke.ac.uk to request support from the Wellbeing Service. You can also access online resources including: Togetherall , ...

World Suicide Prevention Day is Thursday 10th September. Please know that you are not alone, there is support which you can access, please ensure you talk to someone about how you are feeling, share your thoughts and access support. Don’t make a decision today, focus on right now and how you will get through the day. Go to a safe place and stay away from anything which could harm you, talk to someone you trust about how you are feeling. Please follow the links below for more detailed information, advice and guidance about Suicide Prevention; https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/ https://www.rethink.org/get-involved/awareness-days-and-events/world-suicide-prevention-day/ https://www.samaritans.org/support-us/campaign/world-suicide-prevention-day/ https://www.papyrus-uk.org/ Samaritans- for everyone Call 116 123 Email jo@samaritans.org Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – for men Call 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day Visit the webchat page Papyrus – for p...

Hello and welcome back to Wyke 6th form college, we are super excited for the year ahead and hope you guys are too! Please take some time to visit the Wyke Emotional Well-being blog regularly where you will find lots of information regarding issues which may affect you or someone you know. Blog topics include Stress, Anxiety, Exam Stress, Suicide awareness and support. If you are a returning student, please visit the blog again to remind yourself of all the top tips which you can use during your time at Wyke and beyond.