Healthy Minds
Wednesday 1st April 2020
At this time it is essential for our mental wellbeing that we stay connected and there are many tools and resources you can use to stay connected, here are a few.
Phone calls
It’s a classic way of staying connected for a reason. Daily calls to your friends and loved ones can change the way you’re feeling. It can make you feel closer to them, give support through a difficult time or be a great way to distract yourself and have a laugh and a chinwag with someone you love.
Be sure to limit the amount you discuss the news or the coronavirus when talking to friends and family.on the phone so that this is a space of distraction and enjoyment.
Messaging
Whether it is WhatsApp, text messaging, Facebook messenger or online forums messaging is a useful took for keeping in regular contact with people. Be creative with it though, start a book club in a WhatsApp group, or invite friends to a group dedicated to things you’re all passionate about, sport, science, art, history etc.
Messaging can be much more than just general chit chat. Get creative about how you’re connecting.
Social Media
Social media is a great resource for staying connected with friends and family as well as being great for keeping connected with things you enjoy or are passionate about.
Follow hashtags on Twitter or Instagram to stay up to date with the latest posts on your particular interests. Tailor your social media to what you want to get out of it. If you like news, follow journalists from the papers you enjoy reading. Sport? Follow the footballers and fan accounts of your favourite teams.
Social media is a huge digital world, and at the moment so many people are offering ways of keeping people connected - critically acclaimed singer, Laura Marling recently played an entire gig on Instagram.
With all that is great about social media, it does have its downsides. At the moment, a lot of it is filled with talk about COVID-19. We must limit our exposure to COVID-19 news to manage any anxiety we might feel. If you feel there is too much COVID-19 in your feed, go to settings and mute words associated with it, then those words only come onto your feed when you’re ready to unmute them.
Video Calls
There are hundreds of websites and apps that now allow you to meet up with friends and family from the comfort of your own home.
One2One
One on one calls is a great way of connecting differently to just over the phone. You can watch tv together, play games, eat dinner or just look at a face you’ve been missing. Below is a list of apps you can use to make one2one WIFI video calls.
Skype
Facetime
Group Calls
Group calls are an excellent way for businesses to connect but they’re an increasingly popular way for groups of friends to connect remotely. You could have drinks together, agree on some music and pretend they’re all down the pub, a meal together, play board games, play cards or just have a good old chat. Below three 3 free to use ways you can make group calls.
Zoom
Google Hangouts
Whereby
Online activities
There are now a wealth of online activities you can do from the comfort of your own home to keep connected with people from your local community and further.
Test yourself with a pub quiz, buy a ticket to an online gig by one of your favourite artists, take an online class, talk to someone about how you're feeling or take a virtual tour of some of the worlds most famous landmarks. These things can make you feel more connected to the outside world and allow you to enjoy some of the things you love to do.
Here are some links to where you can find more information about what you can do:
Music
Lots of artists are switching to online platforms now to keep in contact with their fans. Tech Radar has compiled a list of how, where and when you can watch your favourite artists.
https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-watch-musi...
Galleries
Explore the greatest galleries from around the world from the comfort of your living room.
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/mar/23/10-...
The Great Outdoors
Google has mastered the art of virtual tours outdoors. Many of them have audio guides too with loads of great information on the world’s most famous landmarks.
https://thenudge.com/staying-in/virtual-tours-of-v...
These are just a few of the thousands of opportunities we have to stay connected with each other during isolation. If we use these tools we can navigate this crisis with each other, keep safe and keep connected.