Tag: support

Having A Healthy Diet
The relationship between our diet and our mental health is complex but eating well can improve your sense of wellbeing and mood.

Food can sometimes act as a comfort for when we are feeling anxious and in some cases our anxiety can make us not want to eat at all. Some studies suggest that what we eat and drink can affect how we feel but it can be difficult to know what to eat, especially when healthier food can be more expensive and it can be hard to think about our diet when we are struggling with our mental health.

The relationship between our diet and our mental health is complex but eating well can improve your sense of wellbeing and mood. You don’t have to make big changes to your diet, but see if you can try some of these tips.
1. Eat regularly – This can stop your blood sugar level from dropping, which can make you feel tired and bad-tempered.
2. Stay hydrated – Even mild dehydration can affect your mood, energy level and ability to concentrate. Everyone’s needs vary from person to person according to age, time of year, climatic conditions, diet and levels of physical activity. Current UK recommendations are to drink 6-8 glasses of fluid per day.
3. Eat the right balance of fats – Your brain needs healthy fats to keep working well. They’re found in things such as olive oil, rapeseed oil, nuts, seeds, oily fish, avocados, milk and eggs. Avoid trans fats – often found in processed or packaged foods – as they can be bad for your mood and your heart health.
4. Include more whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet. They contain the vitamins and minerals your brain and body need to stay well.
5. Include some protein with every meal. It contains an amino acid that your brain uses to help regulate your mood.
6. Look after your gut health. Your gut can reflect how you’re feeling: it can speed up or slow down if you’re stressed. Healthy food for your gut includes fruit, vegetables, beans and probiotics.
7. Be aware of how caffeine can affect your mood. It can cause sleep problems, especially if you drink it close to bedtime, and some people find it makes them irritable and anxious too. Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks and chocolate.
What should you Eat?

Thinking about what to eat can be difficult when you have something playing on your mind, so we have listed a couple of websites that can help you to make good choices and eat well.

The Eatwell guide on the NHS website has detailed information on how to achieve a healthy, balanced diet.

Mind also has advice around food and mental health – with tips on eating well, and how to manage your mood with food, including foods to avoid if you’re taking certain medications

Preparing and sharing meals with others.

Preparing and eating meals with other people has many psychological, social and biological benefits Giving us a sense of rhythm and regularity in our lives, a chance to reflect on the events of the day and an opportunity to feel connected to others.

Here’s a few tips that can could help.
- Make the most of mealtimes by setting aside at least one day a week to eat with family or friends.
- Choose a meal that’s easy to prepare, so it doesn’t become a chore.
- Share responsibility, so everyone has a different task: doing the shopping, setting the table, cooking, or washing up, for example.
Preparing meals with others, building a sense of community and improving mental health led to the idea and creation of Options’ Cooking Group in collaboration with Baytree Cooking Academy

The participants met up every week to work together to prep and cook a meal which everyone then ate for lunch that day. Creating a community group around the meals they made, meant that everyone learnt new cooking skills, learnt about simple nutrition and healthy eating and had a an opportunity to meet up to socialise and make new friends.

7 Simple Recipes.

Taking everything they learnt and with some support, everyone contributed to our 7 Simple Recipes. A recipe booklet which includes healthy and nutritional recipes to try at home and serve as inspiration to prepare meals together and enjoy healthier eating.

You can have a look for yourself by clicking HERE.

We also have printed copies available for you if you prefer.

To get your paper copy, simply call us on 0151 236 0855 or email us at Welcome@optionsempowers.org.uk and tell us your name and address and we will post one out to you.
May 21, 2023
Connect With People.
Connecting with people is crucial for our mental health as humans. We are social beings, and thrive on connections and interactions.

For many people anxiety can be very isolating and therefore it is important that you reach out to others. Connecting with people can help to reduce anxiety, alleviate feelings of loneliness and provide a sense of belonging.

Spending time with friends and loved ones will reduce that sense of isolation but you can also choose to meet new people through activity groups such as social clubs, sports clubs or peer support groups.

Sometimes saying what’s worrying you out loud can take away its power over you. So, if you’re able to talk to people about how you feel, it can help to dramatically reduce your anxiety.

If group activities or clubs aren’t your thing and you don’t feel you can talk to family or friends then please take a minute to watch the video.

Introducing our Mental Health Champions

We know that 1 in 4 people will encounter a mental health difficulty at some point, and this will affect all aspects of our life, including work. As we spend so much of our time at work, it is crucial that we have people in our workplace who we feel comfortable talking to about our wellbeing.

Sometimes it is easier to talk to an understanding peer about stressful or traumatic experiences than to a professional and this can be an invaluable first step in getting the support we need.

At Options we currently have 6 Mental Health Champions who can offer help and support to staff whilst at the same time promoting mental health awareness across the organisation.

Our Mental Health Champions our trained to recognise the warning signs of poor mental health and provide a listening ear for staff to safely talk about their mental health.

Staff often report not knowing who to talk to about their mental health at work, as many fear judgement or bad treatment. With our Mental Health Champions in place, this doubt is removed and will help individuals get the support they need.

So, who are they?

How to get in touch with your Mental health champions.
- Email – mhchampions@optionsempowers.org.uk
- Call – 0151 236 0855 and ask to speak to Amy or Layla from HR.
How does it work?

Your HR advisor can either signpost you to one of our champions directly or you can choose for yourself who you feel will be best for you to talk to.

All your calls, emails or queries are strictly confidential and only dealt with by HR.
May 18, 2023
Lifting the Veil – Our Response
Recently, UK Parliament announced that the House of Lords Social Care Committee will be publishing a major inquiry called ‘Lifting the veil: Removing the invisibility of adult social care’. The inquiry, which will be published later this year, will consider how the invisibility of social care impacts the lives of people who draw on care and support, as well as those who provide it.

At Options, we believe that it’s really important that the voices of people we support and our staff are heard, so we asked them to have their say about how the invisibility of social care impacts them.

‘My support worker makes me feel important‘.

‘It feels as though we’re belittled, and it makes the hard days even harder knowing that some people don’t think our job is worth much’.

These are just two of the many responses we received to our call for feedback in order to provide evidence for the inquiry. Last month, we sent a survey out to all of our staff asking them for their opinions, and then went to ‘Voices R Us’ to speak to people we support. We’d like to thank everybody who took the time to share their thoughts with us.

From the comments that were made, we were able to submit a full response to the Committee which we hope reflects the views we heard. The main points that were made were:
- We feel that one of the major problems facing social care is its invisibility which is made worse by a lack of understanding of the different parts of social care. People with learning disabilities and their support staff are particularly invisible in this wider system.
- We do not think that people with learning disabilities or their support staff are valued enough in society. We know that people’s lives can be changed by good support – this can change the public’s understanding of people with learning disabilities and what support work is all about.
- We need to shift the conversation away from ‘caring for people’ towards supporting people to live full lives. This will change the public’s ideas of what support work is, and challenge perceptions about people with learning disabilities.
- Changing this conversation must involve making sure there is enough money to recruit, develop and retain great staff. It also means making sure that there is enough money to support people to actively participate in, and contribute to, their communities.
- At Options, we believe there is a lot to be learned by listening to staff and people we support. Unfortunately, we do not see this reflected by our local authorities or government when it comes to deciding how social care is delivered.
- Finally, we know the work that our staff do is undervalued – this must change. The important and skilled work that our staff do is not reflected by the wages they receive. The way social care is funded and commissioned needs to be radically changed.
Once our submission has been accepted by the Committee we will be able to publish our response in full – so watch this space!
June 1, 2022