Five Ways to Wellbeing
The Five Ways to Wellbeing are five simple steps you can take to feel happier. You may find that some are things you already do, but by finding time in your day for all five, you’ll find the benefits are much increased.
For five weeks from 7 October we’ll be focusing on one of the five ways per week, hosting events that bring them to life, and letting you know about local services and opportunities that will help you to connect with the week’s theme.
Read on for more information about each week and how you can get involved.
CONNECT – From 7 October
Good relationships with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours are important for mental wellbeing. Building stronger, broader social connections can increase your feelings of happiness and self-worth.
Get involved
We will be hosting a Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, 9 October where you can learn about volunteering with BEfriend, a great organisation that matches volunteers with people experiencing loneliness. This short video gives a taste of what that looks like.
Head here to find out more and get the event link.
Local services to help you Connect
Shewise
Shewise is a voluntary sector organisation working at the grass root level to support the educational, economic, social development and mental wellness of all women, particularly with South Asian and Middle Eastern women and young girls.
Starting on Tuesday, 8 October they’re running coffee mornings that will focus on the theme of wellbeing. Have a look and sign up online.
Hounslow Wellbeing Network
The Hounslow Wellbeing Network is a vibrant community dedicated to enhancing mental and physical wellbeing for all. They offer a great range of activities including coffee and chats, singing, dancing, exercise classes, art sessions, knit and mingle, quizzes and much more.
BEfriend
BEfriend supports people who are isolated and sometimes housebound. Volunteers provide vital weekly contact for people through visits or phone calls. BEfriend also run a project called Linked Minds which was set up to support clients who are lonely and isolated because of mental health problems. A trained befriender will support clients for 1-2 hours each week for a year.
Volunteer befriending in Ealing and Hounslow.
Hounslow Connect
Hounslow Connect is an information and guidance hub connecting residents to local services, organisations and events.
Wellbeing West London
Wellbeing West London is a directory of support services across Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow.
Men’s Minds
This mental health network for men offers a range of activities on Tuesdays and Thursdays including a walk, a lunchtime coffee and an evening support group.
BE ACTIVE – From 14 October
Being active is great for your physical health, but it can also improve your mental wellbeing. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym, you can also find physical activities you enjoy and try to fit more of them into your daily life.
Get involved
Lampton Leisure
Get involved
Lampton Leisure is offering a FREE three-day guest pass for anyone in Hounslow! It’s a great way to sample their great range of activities and seeing what’s for you.
The offer can only be redeemed in the week commencing from Monday 14 October 2024. To find out more, head to: Lampton Leisure website to claim you free three-day guest pass.
Local Services to help you Be Active
BetterPoints
Hounslow residents can download the BetterPoints app and earn rewards for being active! BetterPoints can be spent at participating local businesses, redeemed for high street vouchers, or be donated to charity.
Lampton Leisure
Lampton Leisure has six sports and leisure centres across Hounslow (in Brentford, Feltham, Heston, Isleworth, Chiswick and Osterley) with facilities offering everything from state-of-the-art gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts, soft play, a running track and more.
Brentford FC Community Sports Trust
Working in partnership with Brentford FC, the Trust delivers a range of programmes in education, employability, sports participation, health and community engagement. It also offers free sports and exercise sessions for people seeking support with their mental health.
The London Borough of Hounslow Swimming Club
This is a competitive swimming club that has a real community focus. It provides swimming lessons, holds dementia friendly swim sessions and runs free Multivity sports sessions for young people at Hanworth Air Park Leisure Centre on Saturdays.
This is a friendly women’s cycling group that meets weekly on Sunday mornings at Osterley Park and fortnightly on a Wednesday morning at Hanworth Air Park Leisure Centre. Both rides meet at 9.45am for a 10am start and generally return by 12.30pm.
Parkrun, Hounslow
Parkrun is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. Parkrun is 5k and takes place every Saturday morning at 9am at Bedfont Lakes Country Park, Hanworth Park, Gunnersbury Park and Osterley Park.
Junior parkrun is 2k, dedicated to 4–14-year-olds and their families, and takes place every Sunday morning at 9am at Hanworth Park, Gunnersbury Park and Osterley Park.
Couch to 5K App
Taking up jogging can seem like a scary prospect, especially if you feel out of shape or unfit. The NHS Couch to 5K app will help you to gradually work up towards running 5km in just 9 weeks.
Wellness Workouts with the Positive Movement Project
Free 10 week course to support physical and mental health held at Bedfont Lane Community Centre on Mondays from 10am-12pm. Email to request a place.
Find out more at The Positive Movement Project website.
KEEP LEARNING - From 21 October
Whatever your age, you can learn something new! Learning new skills can boost self-esteem, help build a sense of purpose, and help us connect with others.
Get involved
Would you like to know more about work to reduce health inequalities in Hounslow? Join a lunch and learn session on Tuesday, 22 October where you can hear about community engagement efforts that have taken place over the past six months (Jan-July). This event will present the findings from these activities, emphasising the voices of residents.
Find out more including how to join.
Local services to help you Learn
Learn Hounslow
Hounslow Adult and Community Education (HACE) provides adult education courses through Learn Hounslow. Whether you are looking to learn new skills to find a job, gain a promotion in the existing one, learn how you can support your children at school, maintain your health and wellbeing, improve your confidence or develop a hobby, they have a course for you. Courses are free for those on low incomes.
Hounslow Adult and Community Education - Adult Courses (hace.ac.uk)
Wellbeing and Recovery College
The West London Wellbeing & Recovery College is open to everyone 18 and over, living, working and studying in Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham.
Their educational courses and workshops are free and focus on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and recovery. They believe hope, empowerment, possibility and aspiration are central to good mental health and wellbeing.
Read the WRC_Autumn 2024 Prospectus
Hounslow Digital Drop-ins
If you are struggling to use your tech or need help setting up emails, using social media or surfing the web, pop down to our weekly digital drop-ins at venues around the borough. Our Digital Champions will be happy to help you out.
Chiswick Repair Café
A community café where small repairs can be made to a variety of items. Owners pay for any new parts and make a small contribution to keep the repair café running.
Next event is on Saturday, 19 October, 10.30am-1pm at Christ Church Turnham Green, Town Hall Avenue, London, W4 5DT (usually on the third Saturday of the month, please check dates).
TAKE NOTICE – From 28 October
Taking time out to stop and become aware of your surroundings and listen to your thoughts and feelings can improve your mental wellbeing.
Sometimes this is called ‘mindfulness’ and it is all about becoming more aware of the sights, smells, sounds and tastes that you’re experiencing.
Most of us have issues that we find hard to let go, and mindfulness can help us deal with them. Taking notice of the world around you can bring about reductions in stress and improvements in mood.
Get involved
On this week hosted a photography competition! Congratulations to our four winners: Nadine Percival; George Pursall; Amrik S Ahdan; and Eric Batten. They each won a £50 Amazon voucher.
Getting out and looking for interesting things to photograph in Hounslow is a great way to get thinking about all the interesting sights there are in our borough. It could be one of our wonderful green spaces, something personal to you that you find interesting, or anything in between.
To enter, just email your photograph, along with your full name and a few words about why you’ve chosen this particular subject, to communications@hounslow.gov.uk by the end of Sunday, 3 November. Please use the subject “Five ways photo competition”.
Cllr Lily Bath will pick her five favourites and we’ll contact you with the vouchers if you’ve won. We can also post our favourites across our social media channels if you would like us to show off your work.
Local services to help you Take Notice
Good Thinking
Good Thinking has a wide range of resources to promote mental health, including a mindfulness workbook and two free NHS-approved programmes:
Be Mindful is an online course for learning and practicing mindfulness: https://www.good-thinking.uk/resources/be-mindful
Meditainment is a guided meditation programme: https://www.good-thinking.uk/resources/meditainment
Healthy Hounslow
If you want to lose weight, become more active or give up smoking Healthy Hounslow can help. It offers a variety of free services for Hounslow residents including online or face to face weight management courses for adults and families, exercise on referral, health checks and health coaching.
Boston Manor House Community Walks
Explore the areas around Boston Manor House and Park in a friendly, fun group. These walks are free, take place every Friday, between 11:00am -12:00pm and are suitable for any ability. Please book tickets at the link below.
Insight Timer
This free meditation app helps with sleep, anxiety and stress.
The Mind Axis Teashop
The Teashop are offering a free six week Mindfulness course for women from an ethnic minority background with mild to moderate mental health issues. The sessions take place on Sunday mornings starting 13 Oct. For more information and to sign up, visit The Teashop+ — Mind Axis website.
GIVE – From 4 November
Most people would agree that giving to others can improve your mental wellbeing. Small acts of kindness to other people, or volunteering in your local community, can give you a sense of purpose and make you feel happier and more satisfied about life.
Get involved
This week we’d love to hear about your experiences of the Five Ways to Wellbeing campaign. Have you tried something new or made a small change to your lifestyle? Do you feel better for it? We want to hear your stories.
Give us your time and complete the short survey below. In return we’ll enter you into a draw to win one of 3x £50 Amazon vouchers.
Local services to help you Give
Ealing and Hounslow Community Voluntary Service
Ealing and Hounslow CVS provide a huge range of volunteering roles to suit all levels of experience whether you want to give a couple of hours a week or want to use volunteering as a way into work.
Digital Champions
The London Borough of Hounslow is looking for volunteers who want to support others to develop their digital skills. After training, you will provide basic digital skills sessions to residents who need help at Digital Drop–Ins around the borough. You could help someone to set up emails, guide them through using social media, or support them to use job search engines etc.
