It’s officially summer and we’re easing out of lockdown and into ‘normal’ life. But if you need help managing your mental health and wellbeing during this period of change, you’re not alone, as the SilverCloud Wales Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) team can explain.
SilverCloud Wales is an Online CBT service designed to help people aged 16+, experiencing mild to moderate anxiety, depression or stress, manage their mental health and wellbeing.
CBT works by encouraging you to challenge the way they think and behave so you’re better
equipped to deal with life’s problems.
There’s no need to be referred by a GP – you can sign-up for and access SilverCloud Wales anytime, anywhere, on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.
SilverCloud Wales is an NHS Wales service, run by Powys Teaching Health Board, and offers help for anxiety, depression, stress, sleep, money worries and more.
Choose one of the easy-to-use, interactive online mental health and wellbeing programmes to complete over 12 weeks and receive fortnightly feedback from a qualified SilverCloud Supporter, one of the mental health professionals whose role is to support users of the service.
SilverCloud Supporter Alexandra Birrell, explains why, if you need support managing your mental health and wellbeing, particularly with anxiety, as lockdown restrictions ease this summer, you’re not alone…
“At the core of anxiety is often a difficulty in dealing with uncertainty, and at the core of low mood is often feelings of powerlessness and lack of control.
“We were instructed to stay home, which impacted our interaction with our social support networks, which usually serve to protect us from difficult feelings. However, 15 months later and for many these conditions have become the new normal. Now, being able to venture out of the house and managing social interactions is what brings up feelings of uncertainty.
“Of course, people will have different feelings about this, depending on their situation.
"Some people are naturally cautious whereas others are embracing the opportunity to reconnect with loved ones. The difficulty is that these differences in boundaries are now something that we must learn how to communicate and navigate.
“The way that people navigate boundaries is often related to their self-esteem. People who struggle with their self-esteem tend to wonder whether their needs are important and may struggle to communicate them. If we struggle to communicate our needs, our needs may not be met which can then confirm the feeling that one’s needs are not important.
“SilverCloud Wales users choose one online programme to complete over 12 weeks, with fortnightly feedback from a SilverCloud Supporter. SilverCloud Supporters can give users access to additional modules if we feel they need more support in certain areas. The Communications and Relationships module is a popular one…
“The Communication and Relationships module starts out with a quiz to identify your unique communication style. For example, do you see your needs as more important, of equal importance, or less important than the needs of the people around you? Do other people know what you want and need?
“If you are struggling with communication, it may be that over the years you have learned to communicate in a way that is either too aggressive or too passive to get your needs met. This module offers support and advice around learning to communicate in an assertive, yet respectful way. It also focuses on strategies that may support you in improving the relationships in your life and making sure that you have a healthy support network to lean on when you start to struggle.
“The Self-Esteem module is another one that clients find useful and relevant to their experiences. This module looks at ‘self-talk’ - the way that we speak to ourselves.
“When we are struggling with low mood or anxiety, a common symptom is negative self- talk. We may find that we tend to berate ourselves or judge ourselves in a way that we never would with a loved one who was struggling. The Self-Esteem module offers support around building a practice of self-compassion by learning to offer ourselves kindness, support, understanding and tenderness rather than beating ourselves up, which only serves to make us feel worse.
“If we can improve our self-esteem and our belief that our feelings and our needs matter, this can also support us in navigating these end of lockdown boundaries with the people around us.
“The Relaxation module features a number of exercises that can be really beneficial. Users learn helpful relaxation techniques that can be used in day-to-day life to unwind and de-stress…
“In order to change longstanding habitual patterns or tendencies, we have to be able to slow down enough to notice those patterns. Many people struggling with anxiety feel that their mind is running a mile a minute, and that one thought seems to lead into the next which leads into the next and so on. These worries may be paired with physical sensations of anxiety such as a racing heart, difficulty breathing or a tight chest.
“When practising relaxation, many people report that as their body returns to a state of rest, their mind will slow down as well. It is from this place that we can catch what difficult thoughts are coming up, notice those patterns so we can start to challenge and change them.
“My advice for maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing for people trying to adjust to the ‘new normal’ over summer is…
“Each person will need to weigh up how they feel about the restrictions lifting and what is most beneficial for their own mental health. For some, seeing their loved ones will be supportive, whereas for others it will be a source of stress and will bring up feelings of awkwardness when trying to communicate this.
“Often, people find that their mental health starts to spiral and they don’t understand why it’s happening - they just know that they’re feeling increasingly distressed, low, or anxious, or a combination of all of these feelings.
“CBT provides a framework for understanding how some of the natural and automatic ways that human brains and bodies respond to uncertainty can actually serve to make us feel worse. In that sense, the journey of recovery can be about learning to focus on that which is still within our control, and finding empowerment through identifying coping strategies and ways of better managing our feelings.”
1. SilverCloud Wales – The flagship service, available across Wales.
“The Communication and Relationships module starts out with a quiz to identify your unique communication style. For example, do you see your needs as more important, of equal importance, or less important than the needs of the people around you? Do other people know what you want and need?
“If you are struggling with communication, it may be that over the years you have learned to communicate in a way that is either too aggressive or too passive to get your needs met. This module offers support and advice around learning to communicate in an assertive, yet respectful way. It also focuses on strategies that may support you in improving the relationships in your life and making sure that you have a healthy support network to lean on when you start to struggle.
“The Self-Esteem module is another one that clients find useful and relevant to their experiences. This module looks at ‘self-talk’ - the way that we speak to ourselves.
“When we are struggling with low mood or anxiety, a common symptom is negative self- talk. We may find that we tend to berate ourselves or judge ourselves in a way that we never would with a loved one who was struggling. The Self-Esteem module offers support around building a practice of self-compassion by learning to offer ourselves kindness, support, understanding and tenderness rather than beating ourselves up, which only serves to make us feel worse.
“If we can improve our self-esteem and our belief that our feelings and our needs matter, this can also support us in navigating these end of lockdown boundaries with the people around us.
“The Relaxation module features a number of exercises that can be really beneficial. Users learn helpful relaxation techniques that can be used in day-to-day life to unwind and de-stress…
“When practising relaxation, many people report that as their body returns to a state of rest, their mind will slow down as well. It is from this place that we can catch what difficult thoughts are coming up, notice those patterns so we can start to challenge and change them.
“My advice for maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing for people trying to adjust to the ‘new normal’ over summer is…
“Each person will need to weigh up how they feel about the restrictions lifting and what is most beneficial for their own mental health. For some, seeing their loved ones will be supportive, whereas for others it will be a source of stress and will bring up feelings of awkwardness when trying to communicate this.
“Often, people find that their mental health starts to spiral and they don’t understand why it’s happening - they just know that they’re feeling increasingly distressed, low, or anxious, or a combination of all of these feelings.
“CBT provides a framework for understanding how some of the natural and automatic ways that human brains and bodies respond to uncertainty can actually serve to make us feel worse. In that sense, the journey of recovery can be about learning to focus on that which is still within our control, and finding empowerment through identifying coping strategies and ways of better managing our feelings.”
ONE SERVICE - THREE WAYS TO ACCESS
1. SilverCloud Wales – The flagship service, available across Wales.
This is a self-referral service which means that you can sign-up directly, without having to be referred by your GP or other healthcare professional. Choose one of the easy-to-use, interactive online mental health and wellbeing programmes to complete over 12 weeks and receive fortnightly feedback from your online SilverCloud Supporter, one of the mental health professionals whose role is to support users of the service. Find out more and sign-up here.
2. SilverCloud Blended – A tailored version of SilverCloud for Powys residents.
2. SilverCloud Blended – A tailored version of SilverCloud for Powys residents.
Choose one of the easy-to-use, interactive online mental health and wellbeing programmes to complete over 12 weeks and receive six face-to-face* sessions with an Online CBT practitioner whose role is to support users of the service. To find out more and signup, please contact: Ponthafren Association covering North Powys and Brecon & District - https://www.ponthafren.org.uk; Mid and North Powys Mind covering Mid Powys - https://mnpmind.org.uk/; or Ystradgynlais Mind - https://minditv.org.uk/.
*These may be telephone and email support sessions, depending on Covid restrictions.
3. SilverCloud Workforce – A tailored version of SilverCloud specifically for NHS staff
and keyworkers.
You'll have access to four online mental health and wellbeing programmes: Space for Resilience; Space from Stress; Space from COVID-19; Space for Sleep. This is an unsupported service so you will work your way through your programme of choice on your own, at your own pace. Sign up directly for the service without needing to be referred by your GP or other healthcare professional.
Visit https://cymru.silvercloudhealth.com/signup/ and enter access code WALES2020.
Visit https://cymru.silvercloudhealth.com/signup/ and enter access code WALES2020.
For more information about SilverCloud Wales online CBT
- If you have any queries, please email Silver.Cloud@Wales.nhs.uk or call 01874 712 428.
- Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvercloudW
- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SilverCloudWales
- If you have any queries, please email Silver.Cloud@Wales.nhs.uk or call 01874 712 428.
- Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvercloudW
- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SilverCloudWales
