The course teaches six practical skills to enhance mental wellbeing. These are based on the latest psychological research and presented in engaging ways that can be easily understood and applied in daily life. Local groups of up to 20 people meet for 2 weekly sessions of 2 hours each.

Session 1 skills:

1. Notice the good things. How to overcome our natural "negativity bias" and appreciate more of the good things in our lives, even when times are tough.
2. Look after your relationships. How to enhance our connections with others, by responding more constructively and being willing to help and ask for help.
3. Enjoy staying active. How to regularly use simple physical activities (e.g. walking) to boost our mood and help reduce stress and anxiety.

Session 2 skills:

1. Take a minute to breathe. How to be more "mindful" and create more moments of calm awareness each day, especially when life feels overwhelming.
2. Check your thinking. How to be more resilient when things go wrong and how to identify and overcome unhelpful ways of thinking.
3. Use your strengths. How to focus more on our natural strengths (rather than our weaknesses) and discover the benefits that come from using these more often.

The course is aimed at a general audience and is suitable for adults of all ages and backgrounds. It is run by trained facilitators and each participant receives their own accompanying guidance pack. A key component of the 2-part course involves the participants putting into practice the skills they learn in Week 1 and then discussing these together in Week 2.

The course has been piloted in various contexts including organisations, community centres, GP/medical practices and adult education centres. The results were very encouraging, with extremely good feedback about the course, plus quantitative evidence showing significant improvements in people's mental wellbeing after taking the course.

• 100% of participants in the pilot course rated it Very Good or Good
• 94% of participants said they would recommend the course to others
• 29% average increase in self-reported wellbeing after taking the course

If you would like to find out more about running the Practical Ideas for Happier Living course in your local community then please contact us at [email protected]. We also offer a Facilitator Training program to train people to run the course.

You can read more about the course in this overview document.

The course was originally developed in partnership with the Royal Borough of Kingston Mental Health team in 2013 and piloted in the Kingston area.