Join Culture & Engagement in conjunction with Spectrum.Life for a series of webinars designed to help you find you balance by focusing on the 4 core pillars of; Mental Wellbeing, Social Wellbeing, Nutritional Wellbeing and Physical Wellbeing. The webinars are designed to help foster balance in an always ‘on’ life. In addition to guiding on achievable wellbeing steps to take, which enable a person to overcome the daily challenges of working and teaching from home, the webinars will build on the positive psychology constructs of the PERMA Model.
PERMA model approach to Wellbeing
The PERMA model of wellbeing is a model that was developed by Prof Martin Seligman in 2011. The approach looks at wellbeing in terms of a strengths approach – a what’s right approach as opposed to a what’s wrong or weakness-based approach. The premise is that you can’t create a human being that is healthy and fulfilled by just fixing what’s wrong (medical, psychological or environmental); you also have to look at what’s right and meaningful to them in life and try to develop and fulfil that area too.
Sign-up via UCD Wellbeing Hub
Sign up today for these webinars via the (opens in a new window)UCD Wellbeing Hub (Events page).
If you have not already signed-up to the UCD Wellbeing Hub visit our Employee Assistance Service page.
Webinar 1: Wednesday, 7 April, 11am - Exercise for the mind
Exercise is a fantastic tool to promote your physical health, but also has a fantastic impact on mental health. More and more research has gone into investigating the mental benefits of exercise, and there is plenty of confidence of exercises ability to promote mental health. Of particular note is the ability of exercise to reduce both physical and mental tension, regulate stress hormones and increase blood flow to the brain. Exercise has been shown as a predictor of overall resilience in numerous trials. This seminar looks at physical and mental exercises that can promote mental health, as well as breaking down the science of what exercise does to help improve mood, decrease stress and prevent cognitive decline.
Webinar 2: How can anxiety impact sleep?
Anxiety and mood disorders are frequently connected to sleeping problems. In fact there isn’t a single mental health issue that doesn’t involve a dysregulation of sleep. During this seminar you will learn about the sleep process; what anxiety is and how anxiety can impact sleep and discover various techniques to reduce anxiety including exercise, sleep hygiene, sleep restriction, journaling, social support and mindfulness. The object of this seminar is to increase knowledge of how anxiety and stress are impacting our sleep and to educate on practical strategies than can be used to help in this area.
Webinar 3: Holding onto hope during hard times
This webinar looks at how different thoughts and actions influence our feelings of hope and despair, and how we can hold on to hope during difficult times. It examines what hope is from a scientific point of view and sets it in context with other forms of positive emotions. It looks at the science of hope in the form of hope theory. It also looks at how we can build hope; being able to draw on hope has been shown specifically to be more effective than just being optimistic due to it being more aligned to having specific and realistic goals.
Webinar 4: Technology and mental wellbeing
In an age where technology is driving cars, delivering food and building houses, we look at what technology can do for our mental health and what is does to hurt our mental health. Technology apps are incredibly popular, but what can they tell us about our mental health? And similarly, we all see the rise in social media and technology use, but what is this doing to our mental health? Of particular concern here is the trap of social comparison and replacing actual connectedness with digital connection. This seminar addresses the psychology behind technology, and how it can help and hinder our mental health.
Webinar 5: Finding balance when walking a tightrope
This webinar aims to increase identification of those areas in our life that might need attention and looks at ways to best optimise work-life balance. In particular we will look at what happens when we fall out of balance and what a good life balance looks like. Home working, technology, time management, recovery time are also examined. Self-care, expectations, stress perception, mindfulness and minding our basics of sleep, nutrition and exercise are suggested as optimal strategies for easy the burden of a life that is shifting out of balance.
Webinar 6: The psychology of healthy eating
How many people have tried to keep a diet and ultimately broken it? That’s right, pretty much everyone! But we know what good and bad food is, but why do we choose it? This seminar will look at how to implement a good diet, all the psychological skills that are necessary to make it a habit, and what aspects of diet are important when it comes to the mind. The process of habit formation is also examined and explained. This seminar also looks at how/why we use food as a coping strategy and how to stick to a diet. Finally, we will look at the many links between mind and body when it comes to diet.
