This page contains resources and websites to help you manage your health and wellbeing. If you know of other useful resources please do let us know at organisationaldevelopment@stmarys.ac.uk so we can add them below.
Please note these services are not affiliated with St Mary's and while we have done our utmost to find credible resources we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. For even more resources and information about all aspects of Wellbeing sign up to the Validium vClub website, which is free for St Mary's Staff.
How are you feeling? You can use the free tools below to aid self reflection on how you're feeling, mentally, and physically, and plan your next steps.
- Public Health England: website with free self assessment quizzes on physical and mental wellbeing, with practical hints and tips.
- NHS Mood Self-Assessment: quick mood assessment with advice on next steps.
- Wheel of Life: Check in with yourself on the important areas of your life and where you might want to rebalance and focus on more.
- Robertson Cooper Resilience Report: Validated personality assessment (using the Big 5 Factor model) with tailored advice on building personal resilience.
The tools below have been selected to support overall wellbeing, however you might be feeling!
- Headspace: Mindfulness meditation app. Helps improve sleep, focus, and stress levels.
- Calm: Meditation and sleep app with over 100 guided mindfulness meditations.
- Happify: Break old patterns, form new habits with evidence based interventions from positive psychology, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioural therapy.
- Wheel of Wellbeing: Ideas for building the six ways to wellbeing in your life: Body, Mind, Spirit, People, Place, Planet.
If you are experiencing stress, emotional or psychological distress, or mental health problems the websites below offer advice, guidance, and support.
- Mind: Information and resources for on mental health and taking care of yourself whether you are living with a diagnosed mental health condition or supporting others.
- Mypossibleself: NHS App to help you with stress, anxiety, and depression. The app includes simple learning modules to improve your mental health and boost your wellbeing.
- #StayAlive: Suicide prevention resource, including a safety plan and resources and strategies for keeping safe, all in one app.
- Calm Harm: Dialectical Behavioural Therapy based app to help manage the urge to self harm.
- Able Futures: Able Futures delivers the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service which can give you a mental health professional to talk to about whatever is on your mind over nine months.
Just 150 minutes of moderately intense activity for adults a week can improve physical health. 150 minutes a week is just 21 minutes of physical activity a day! Alternatively, some of us can also opt for 75 minutes of vigorous intensity a week. According to the NHS, some of the benefits we can get from just 150 minutes of exercise include:
- up to a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
- up to a 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
- up to a 30% lower risk of depression
- up to a 30% lower risk of dementia
- a 30% lower risk of early death.
Check out the resources below for some ideas on how to achieve your 150 minutes!
- Couch to 5K: NHS beginners running programme taking you from the couch to 5K! Download weekly podcasts to keep you on track.
- Good Gym: A community of runners that combines getting fit with doing good through local volunteering. There are groups meeting in Richmond on Monday evenings, and in Kingston on Tuesday evenings.
- MyFitnessPal: The MyFitnessPal app allows you to track exercise, nutrients and calories and includes a barcode scanner for when you're out and about
- AllTrails: All Trails is a great app if you enjoy hiking and walking! It provides you access to walking/hiking trails near you. It’s a good app for leisurely walking as well as for good moderate exercise, an excellent reintroduction to fitness.
Sustaining a healthy, balanced diet has several long-term advantages which improves our quality of life:
- protection from various illnesses and diseases, and help the body repair
- maintain our weight and reduce risk of obesity
- strengthen our bones, teeth, and muscle
- helps improve quality of sleep.
Find ways to improve your diet:
- MealIQ: Meal planning site which finds recipes that fit your diet restrictions, food intolerance, nutrition targets, budget, and taste preferences. It will then “translate” the recipes into an online shopping list making healthy eating easy.
- Waterminder: Hydration is just as important as nutrition and fitness and WaterMinder is a great app to monitor our water intake as well as a gadget to remind us to drink water.
- Food Facts: A range of food fact sheets from the British Dietetic Association. Find general advice for adults adolescents and children, as well as fact sheets on common medical conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndromes (IBS), food allergies, and more.
Making significant lifestyle changes is challenging, and addictive substances such as nicotine, alcohol, or other substances can be especially difficult to cut down on or quit. The resources below offer support and information if you are looking to make positive changes.
- Drink Free Days: free NHS app to help you feel healthier, lose weight, and save money by picking your days to go drink-free. The app allows you to track drink free days, access tips and advice to help you control how much you drink, and celebrate when you reach your goals.
- NHS Smokefree: free NHS app to help you quit smoking. The app allows you to track progress, see how much you're saving, and access daily support. If you can make it 28 days without smoking you are 5 times more likely to quit for good.
- Talk to Frank: provides honest information about drugs and alcohol, advice and information about places to get help.
- Sleep Cycle: Sleep Cycle analyses your sleep and wakes you up at the most perfect time, feeling rested. You can also get information about the quality of your sleep.
- Money Advice Service: Financial Wellbeing and good money management is a key factor in our overall wellbeing. The Money Advice Service offer free, impartial money advice.
- Meetup: Social connection is key to our wellbeing, happiness, and resilience. Meetup can help you find local groups to do activities you love.
- Menopause Support: Great source of menopause support and advice.
The Library Services Health and Wellbeing Resource list contains useful links and resources in an easy to navigate format. This includes book recommendations, many of which you can also borrow from the Library on campus. Categories include:
- anxiety
- bereavement and end of life
- depression
- drug and alcohol addiction support
- general wellbeing
- mindfulness
- self-confidence
- self-esteem
- St Mary's Wellbeing Services
- stress
- suicide prevention.