Wellbeing Week webinars promote positive health
To MARK the recent Wellbeing Week, Digital Greenhouse hosted a series of webinars.
‘We wanted to showcase examples of local innovation and entrepreneurship in health and wellbeing to encourage and inspire others,’ said Digital Greenhouse director Lucy Kirby.
‘Positive health and wellbeing are at the forefront of many people’s minds at the moment and Guernsey has no shortage of initiatives that are supporting both individuals, the community and people around the world to improve and maintain theirs.
‘Over the series of virtual events we heard the stories of three different organisations – The Decider, Welcome Home and The Better App Company.
‘They each occupy different spaces within the industry but share the same purpose of helping people gain and maintain positive mental health and wellbeing.
‘By sharing their motivations and business developments in the webinars, which are available to watch back on our website, we hope to inspire and encourage people to become actively engaged in the wellbeing space. They also provide great examples of new startups, innovation and entrepreneurialism in Guernsey.’
The first webinar – from The Decider – tackled ‘Lockdown Blues’, with cognitive behavioural therapists Michelle Ayres and Carol Vivyan, who both have a background in mental health nursing.
While many people who worked from home during lockdown enjoyed the quiet, they said that there was a big increase in stress and anxiety, and their online course – which is supported by a self-help book – aimed to help people learn 32 skills to give them tools to cope. They said that 12.7% of all sickness days can be attributed to mental health and hoped that the affordable and unique online course would help people.
The second webinar was from Welcome Home, an online community wellbeing hub that acts as a central platform where Guernsey residents can simply and freely access online offerings submitted by individuals, groups and organisations in their local community.
Welcome Home is managed by a collective of local professionals within the health, IT, arts and creative industries who have come together to support the island community through and beyond the Covid-19 crisis.
John Halker and Peter Grange, co-founders of The Better App Company, commented during their webinar that the previous three months had seen a 250% increase in people accessing their app.
‘It’s mushroomed in the last few months,’ said Mr Halker, adding that plans are afoot to translate the app into Italian, Spanish and Chinese.
