ACL Essex is supporting its communities with mental health courses to help boost wellbeing.
The learning provider is promoting free mental health courses, available to residents across Essex, to combat winter blues.
lue Monday (19 January) is meant to be the most depressing day of the year, due to bad weather, financial stress and the return to routines after the festive season.
ACL Essex supports people across the county throughout the year and is keen to showcase the support it has on offer.
The most popular mental wellbeing courses are:
- Introduction to Mental Health
- Mental Health in a Man’s World
- Managing Overwhelm
- Blues Buster
- Building Resilience
Gill Witchell, Mental Wellbeing Curriculum Lead, ACL Essex, is keen to ensure the people who need these free courses can access them. She says: “ACL has a broad range of courses devised to support your sense of wellbeing with lots of tips and practical activities to elevate your mood.
“All courses delivered within our Mental Health and Recovery Programme are co-delivered by tutors who have either lived experience of poor mental wellbeing and/or are mental health practitioners.
“These are short courses open to anyone who lives or works in Essex. They are co-designed by the learners, to support ways of living well with simple strategies to manage even the darker days of winter.”
The courses are available at ACL centres in Basildon, Harlow, Harwich, Chelmsford, Clacton, Maldon, Colchester and online. Courses are delivered by experts and provide a nurturing, friendly and supportive environment. The courses focus on building the right tool kit to help people overcome life’s challenges. Short courses are delivered over one or two weeks, in a mix of one-to-one, group and class-based sessions.
Recent learners on the ‘Manging Overwhelm’ course are happy they signed-up. Debbie from Harlow/Essex said:
“I have enjoyed this course very much. It’s been interesting and has made me feel more determined. My confidence has grown more now than ever before.”
Essex County Council has welcomed ACL’s continued focus on mental health. Councillor Tony Ball, Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, said: “Mental wellbeing is vital. It’s essential that people who need support can access these courses. The training on offer is free and has really helped to transform lives.”
To find out more and to sign up for mental health courses visit www.aclessex.com.
