Feel well

Feel Well aligns with the workshop topics of anxiety breathing techniques, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, self-care and coping with waiting times.

Online resources

Breathing to feel calm

• Listen to an audio clip about guided meditation on mindfulness of the breath from CALM
• Hikitia te Hā is simple breathing exercises that uses te reo Māori to step up, lengthen, and lift.
• Square breathing techniques help you stay calm by reducing stress and worries.
• The Breath2relax app is a portable stress management tool with breathing exercises.
• Deep breathing is a calming technique that helps manage aches and pains, reduce stress, and your heart rate.
• Try out this worksheet from the Mental Health Foundation to switch on your relaxation response.

Self-esteem

• Read about how practicing positive self-talk improves your your holistic self-acceptance of all aspects of yourself.
• Thinkladder is an app that includes insights and affirmations that help you explore personal development themes.
• Listen to Brene Brown talk about the discomfort, vulnerability, and fear we feel when we start new things and don’t know how to do them.
• Mentemia is an app that coaches mental wellbeing and is free to all New Zealanders.
• Watch two videos from Dr Kristin Neff as she explains the three components of self-compassion and the difference between self-esteem and self-compassion.
• Check out The Lowdown for steps to give yourself a self-esteem boost.

Anxiety

• Listen to Dr Kristin Neff’s insights into the healing power of self-compassion to enhance wellbeing and reduce anxiety, pain, and depression.
• Talk to Aunty Dee, a free online tool to help you work through any problems.
• Muscle relaxation exercise from Small Steps to help you feel the difference between tense muscles and relaxed muscles.
• Read about seven ways to practice emotional first aid to reboot your emotional health.
• Try out Headspace mindfulness app (free version) that includes mindfulness exercises, meditations, sleep sounds, and fun animations to help you practice meditation skills.
• Listen to Kelly McGonigal talk about how to use stress for your own benefit.
• Mindful Watching is a skill to help you calmly focus on the present by redirecting your attention when you feel distressed or upset.

Depression

• Watch young New Zealanders talk about their experiences of depression and recovery at The Lowdown.
• Listen to Rob Mokoraka talk about making theatre out of trauma and finding a way through depression.
• Thinkladder is an app that includes insights and affirmations to help you explore personal development themes. Set reminders based on time and location to develop new thought patterns.
• Read about seven ways to practice emotional first aid to reboot your emotional health.
• Watch Heidi Grant talk about how to ask for help, understand what you need and how to be good at it.
• Headspace is an app that help you cope with your feelings while you are experiencing grief.
• Read about the science behind why hobbies can improve our mental health from The Conversation.
• Learn how to identify feelings in your body to recognise when you are becoming distressed.
• Reframing thoughts is a tool to notice unhelpful thoughts in your mind and reframe them with more useful thoughts.
• Mood balancing gives you insight into how activities you’re doing affect your mood.
• Resources to support you through grief from Skylight.

Self-care

• Resources to support you through grief from Skylight.
• Watch Susan David talk about ‘sawubona’, a concept to help us understand our inner world and the importance of emotional courage.
• Try out a series of nine self-compassion exercises and worksheets for increasing compassion as an effective tool for improving our lives.
• Watch Guy Winch talk about why we all need to practice emotional first aid and emotional hygiene to take care of our emotions, minds and bodies with the same diligence we take care of our bodies.
• A short video guide to what a highly rational mind might learn to appreciate with the concept of ‘spiritual’.
• Read and listen to Ōrongohau—Best New Zealand Poems 2019 from the International Institute of Modern Letters.
• Learn how to paint with Bob Ross as he explains tools, colours, and how to paint at home.

Coping with wait times

• Try out this worksheet from CALM to make your own coping plan when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
• Coping with suicidal thoughts, how to ask for help, and how to feel better.
• Have a go at the problem solving worksheet from Just A Thought to help you create your own step by step action plan to work through any problems you may be facing.
• Wajahat Ali talks about dealing with uncertainty and keeping anchored among the challenges and chaos of life.
• Try out these resources from Just a Thought called worry time and worry chart.
• What’s Your Grief shares observations, thoughts, and support for everyone coping with grief.
• Check out connecting through kōrero, a resource to guide talking about suicide.
• Reflectly is an artificial intelligence (AI) journal that helps you structure and reflect on your daily thoughts and problems.
• Information from CALM about finding meaning in life and through religion including audio soundbites about different religions.
• Activities you can do from Sport Wellington to support your taha wairua.
• Try out the Calm app to help relax when feeling overwhelmed. It provides guided meditations and sounds for sleep.
• Take notice, me aro tonu. Remember the simple things that give you joy, from the Mental Health Foundation’s 5 Ways to Wellbeing campaign.

Workshops

All of the content in our online resources aligns with the messages in our weekly wellbeing workshops.