Training: Annual Review 2021 – 2022

Another important aspect of what we deliver is training, including 115 free community training sessions during the year and across a wide range of different courses. Last year we had to regroup and adapt our training to put it online. This year we have grown our offer and look forward to also delivering face-to-face. For many though there is now a preference for online. Alongside our tried and tested training courses we delivered two new ones:

Mindfulness for Menopause and Mums Matter – the latter delivered in North Manchester

Building a Healthy Future – for people with long-term physical health conditions

Our Mindfulness for Stress course also continued to make an impact as Ruth our Resilience Co-ordinator says:

“When delivering resilience and mindfulness courses, you hope that you’re helping to equip the participants with skills to help them, not just for the duration of the course, but for the future too. However, it’s difficult to know once the course has finished what happens to people afterwards. One way I’ve tried to support mindfulness course graduates is to offer meditation drop-in sessions, to keep them on track with their home practice and to continue to foster a sense of community in meditation. These have been running since April 2020 and some people have been coming since they started. One attendee says: ‘Just wanted to thank you for the drop-in sessions I am finding them so helpful. They give me something to look forward to and I feel a connection to other people as well.’ Another, who has been attending them since the start says: ‘Thank you for all of the courses I have been on… and all of the extra sessions. You have been amazing and I have benefitted from it so much. Life feels so much better now, and I feel like I have a lifelong tool to help me through any tricky times that come. So, a really heartfelt thank you’. These unsolicited emails and small acts of thanks also really help me feel connected to the people I meet on my courses, and motivated to continue.”

We have also delivered 108 employer training courses to 1279 participants including Mental Health Awareness and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). People have found it particularly beneficial…

“Hearing other stories and experiences and having a list of things to look out for and to avoid. It’s actually helpful not only for work and colleagues but for personal experiences at home so it’s been really valuable.”
Mental Health Awareness course participant

“The course provided me with strategies with which to make my health problems more bearable. The social aspect of the course was great after a year of shielding.”

Find out about all our courses on our training pages