Our courses

This is an introductory Webinar about the Recovery College. 

It provides all the information you need to know to get started on your Recovery College journey. 

There are opportunities to ask questions in an anonymous way.

Course duration: 1 hour 

This course is suitable for those wanting to understand how to start overcoming any feelings of shame or guilt that may be creating barriers to a recovery journey. This is a gentle introduction to a topic that can be difficult and looks at how learning to manage any shame can support people to move forward with understanding and compassion.

We look at what shame is and how this connects with guilt and humiliation, exploring some of the reasons why someone may be living with shame. We also look at when shame is helpful - ‘healthy shame’ and when it is not helpful - ‘toxic shame’ and how to recognise the differences and explore some strategies which may help.

Course duration: 2 hours

This Webinar introduces the key drivers of recovery known as CHIME.

They are Connection, Hope, Identity, Meaning and Empowerment.

The course covers:

• What CHIME is and the research evidence supporting this.
• How you can use CHIME in your everyday life to support recovery.

Course duration: 1 hour 

This Zoom course is a great place to start exploring new ideas about recovery and what drives it along.

The course covers:

• What recovery means to you
• What helps on a recovery journey
• What’s next for you and recovery

Course duration: 2 hours

This course is suitable for those wanting to build confidence in themselves and for people wanting to support building confidence in others.

We introduce what ‘confidence’ is and how growing it can help recovery. We look at the causes and effects of low self-confidence, and some of the barriers to building self-confidence.

We then explore what things may help build confidence, including: learning to calm and soothe ourselves, finding social support, building our emotional readiness, and growing our resilience for when things don't go as planned. We will also introduce ideas for making the most of the times when things go well as well as offering suggestions for use outside the session.

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes

A Guide to Living Your Best Life is about understanding ourselves including our thoughts, emotions, and feelings and how we do not have to let these things get in the way of us living our best lives. This course looks at exploring what is important to you and looking at what is next on your journey to living your best life.

Course duration: Three sessions of 2 hours

A gentle introduction to the concept of ‘assertiveness’. We explore reasons why assertiveness can be difficult, and the skills involved in developing a more assertive communication style.

The course is suitable for people at any stage of their mental health recovery journey, their friends, carers and supporters, as well as members of staff who would like to increase their confidence and skills in this area.

The course covers:  

• How working on our communication style and being more assertive can help on our Recovery Journey, or when we are supporting or caring for others.
• The challenges of becoming more assertive.
• Difference between passive, aggressive and assertive communication styles.
• Understanding what influences our communication style.
• Exploring the use of assertiveness skills.  

Course duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

As we age, we can experience different types of loss.

The course covers:

• Our experience of loss 
• That grief is a normal process and affected by different factors
• The course will identify strategies that can help us manage loss and grief in later life

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

There is a Webinar and Zoom/Classroom course with the same name.

The Webinar considers how to use the Five Ways to Wellbeing in your everyday life to support your general personal wellbeing and recovery.

• Connect
• Be Active
• Take Notice
• Keep Learning
• Give

Course duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes

The Zoom/Classroom course examines how the research-based actions can improve our physical, mental, and emotional health. 

The course covers:

• How wellbeing links with personal recovery 
• The benefits of the Five Ways to Wellbeing 
• How we can use the Five Ways to Wellbeing to set meaningful goals 

You are provided with additional worksheets to think about the impact the Five Ways to Wellbeing can have on our lives.

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

There is a Webinar and Zoom/Classroom course with this name.

The Webinar is a gentle introduction to what we mean by emotions, naming them and identifying how they relate to our behaviours.

The course covers:

• What emotions are and how they relate to our behaviours
• How to recognise emotions in ourselves and others, and different ways to deal with them in our daily lives

Course duration: 2 hours 

The Zoom/Classroom course looks at how emotions help and motivate us in different ways. It goes in more depth than the Webinar, and it looks at how to explore the key elements of emotions and different ways to deal with them. 

Course duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes 

This two-week course was co-produced with peer tutors who use creativity to support their Recovery.

The course covers: 

• Recognition and ownership of personal creativity
• Practical examples how to practice creativity as a group to boost confidence
• Identifying obstacles and barriers to creativity and how to overcome them
• Materials required: Blank paper, coloured pens/pencils

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours

The course covers:

• Our understanding of later life – myths and the facts
• What happens to our brains as we age and how to keep it healthy
• Ideas to look after ourselves and promote our own wellbeing in the face of challenges that aging brings.

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

The course looks at how to set achievable goals to improve motivation and make positive change.

The course covers:

• How to set recovery-focused goals
• Using and setting targets
• How to make contingency plans for when ‘life happens’

Course duration: 2 hours 

This course explores what is understood by spirituality and helping students create their own definition of what it means to them. 

The course covers:

• Introducing spirituality and how it relates to recovery in mental health
• Exploring and understanding a personal definition of spirituality

Course duration: 2 hours 

This course focuses on the importance of physical health and being active. 

The course covers:

• The importance of looking after your physical health and being active 
• Monitoring your physical health
• Practical guidance around making small changes

Course duration: 2 hours 

This course will enable you to complete a Wellness Plan to support your general wellbeing and recovery.

The course covers:

• Looking at everyday behaviours and activities that help to keep you well
• How you can make the most of your strengths and resources
• Thinking about your personal triggers and warning signs and making plans to help yourself.
• Understanding when you might need outside support

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

Together we will understand how to find our individual values and identifying meaning and purpose when our mental health feels difficult.

Course duration: 45 minutes 

This course aims to support understanding and developing skills to live well with personality disorder. Over 3 weeks, we come together to understand the full experience of personality disorder. We will learn ways to navigate emotions, how to guide our actions and acknowledge our relationship with others and ourselves. 

Course duration: Three sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes

Most of us will have heard of the term ‘ADHD’, but research has found that there are many misconceptions and myths surrounding this common condition. This webinar will help support and offer strategies to those who have ADHD (or individuals who think they may have this condition but not have a diagnosis), supporters and professionals and to understand better this complex condition.

The course covers:

• An understanding as to why ADHD is challenging
• Things you can do now to help
• Recognise some positive aspects of ADHD
• What the future could look like

Course duration: 2 hours

This course provides an insight into the world of Autism. This is led by both lived and learned experts in the field. It offers evidence-based guidance and real-world examples for those currently awaiting their assessment. 

This course covers:
▪ Recognising the Autism spectrum
▪ Effective communication strategies 
▪ Practical interventions for various settings whether at home, school or in the community. 

Course duration: 2 hours

Attend to explore how you can use the Quality Improvement methodology, skills, knowledge, and tools in everyday life to support your recovery and personal growth journey. Learn how Quality Improvement is used in healthcare settings, how to be involved in Quality Improvement projects in NSFT and how using your lived and learned experience of receiving or supporting someone with treatment and services from NSFT can improve quality of care.

The course covers:

• What ‘quality’ means to you and what quality looks like in mental healthcare services.​
• Explore why Lived experience is important in Quality Improvement.​
• ​Introduction to the Quality Improvement approach used in mental healthcare​.
• Use a ‘real life’ example to understand;​ how to create SMART aims/goals, how to measure improvement​, how to create change ideas and test these.​
• Consider what the benefits and challenges might be for people with lived experience participating in Quality Improvement projects.​
• Explore what it is like to be involved in Quality Improvement projects and how you can join a project and/or support improvement work at NSFT.

Course Duration: 3 hours and 30 minutes including short breaks

There is a Webinar and Zoom/Classroom course with the same name. 

The Webinar covers:

• What is anxiety
• Causes and triggers
• How anxiety affects us
• What other people can do (family, friends or carers)
• Looking at ways to manage anxiety

Course duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes 

The Zoom/Classroom course looks more in-depth the causes of anxiety and different management mechanisms.

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

There is a Webinar and Zoom/Classroom course with the same name. 

ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training.

The Webinar course aims to introduce the ideas behind this approach.  Attending this can be the first step before attending the Zoom/Classroom course of the same name.

Course duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes 

The four week Zoom/Classroom course is a more in-depth exploration of the ACT approach. It aims to explore the ideas behind this approach in a teaching, not therapy, format.

The course covers:

• A toolkit for dealing with painful thoughts and feelings
• Explores your personal values and how to live in line with them
• Practice techniques on your own thoughts and feelings – this is voluntary and there is no pressure if you do not want to

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours 

This course would be useful to carers, supporters, service users, professional and employed carers. 

The course covers:

• The Triangle of Care
• Confidentiality in recovery
• Support of carers

Course duration: Four sessions of 3 hours 

The course looks at different people’s experiences of psychosis and how they can be inspired to live fulfilled lives. 

The course covers:

• Different views about the causes and experiences of psychosis
• Sharing Recovery stories that inspire and empower
• Helping other people (including family or carers) understand psychosis so they can be part of your journey

Course duration: 2 hours

Have you ever thought about what it is like to work as a Peer Support Worker or thought about if it is a job you would like to have?

The course covers:

• Exploring what a Peer Support Worker does
• Introducing the skills and tools that are useful in the role
• Thinking about support and training needed for the role
• How to apply for Peer Support Worker jobs

Course duration: Three sessions of 3 hours 

This explores how our eating can impact our mood, mental health, and overall wellbeing.

The course covers:

• Understanding what a healthy diet is by discussing the nutritional content found in food
• Discussing how to create a food plan 
• Understanding how diet affects our mood and mental health

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours 

This aims to help and guide people who have experienced mental health challenges to understand their story.

The course covers:

• How your story can be told
• How to develop your story
• How to tell your story in a safe way and maintain your privacy

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes 

This introduces the signs, symptoms and experiences of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and considers different coping and support mechanisms.

The course covers:

• What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
• Symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Managing symptoms and self-care
• Support resources

Course duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes 

Hearing voices that other people cannot hear, can for some be a frightening and distressing experience. This course aims to empower people to live well despite the voice hearing experience (whether positively or negatively experienced).

Session 1: Understanding the experience of voice hearing, why people hear voices and what strategies might help us to live well.

Session 2: Identify further strategies that might be helpful and other resources that can help us to live well despite the voice hearing experience.

Course duration: Two sessions of 4 hours with a lunch break

Explores ways to help men understand their emotional health and develop coping strategies. The course provides a supportive environment in which students are able to share their own experiences of managing their emotional health.

The course covers:

• The recognition of different emotional states
• Managing life stresses
• Analysing unhelpful patterns of thinking
• Managing emotional wellbeing

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours

 

This course gives an overview of general sleep difficulties and how sleep impacts mental health and recovery. 

The course covers:

• Recognition and ownership of personal creativity
• Practical examples how to practice creativity as a group to boost confidence
• Identifying obstacles and barriers to creativity and how to overcome them
• Materials required: Blank paper, coloured pens/pencils

This course aims to provide options and information on improving sleep, but it does not look into specific sleep diagnoses such as: narcolepsy, night terrors, sleep apnoea, sleep paralysis or sleep walking. We hope much of the content may still be useful and still encourage you to attend alongside support from your GP with these particular diagnoses. 

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours

This course reinforces and builds on the ideas from other Recovery College courses to help students think about change and moving on to a meaningful life beyond services.

The course covers:

• Revisiting what recovery means
• Exploring feelings around change and moving beyond mental health services
• Looking at our values
• Acknowledging the recovery journey and how far each student has come

Course duration: 2 hours 

This explores what we mean by compassion and gives an opportunity to develop or build your own capacity to be compassionate with yourself.

The course covers:

• Understanding what compassion is and what makes it hard to be compassionate to ourselves
• Identifying skills for developing self-compassion and recovery
• A chance to practice these skills together

Course duration: Three sessions of 2 hours 30 minutes

This 4-week course has been written for people living alongside bipolar disorder  as part of their own lives, or as a supporter, carer, or clinician. We offer a space to explore feelings about bipolar disorder  from all these perspectives; this includes reflecting on experiences of living alongside bipolar disorder  and to talk about how to manage the impact of bipolar disorder. Students will be invited to better notice what triggers mood changes and to think about a personalised plan to manage mood episodes earlier and more effectively. We will also explore the role of medication.

We hope that by the end of the course students will have had an opportunity to share their experiences with others in a safe and supportive space as well as learning some evidence-based tools to support themselves on their recovery journey.

 

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours 30 minutes

Many of us have heard of Post-Traumatic Stress and understand the devastating impact trauma can have on our lives. Few people, though, are familiar with the idea of Post Traumatic Growth.

Growth from trauma is a step-by-step process and there is no right or wrong way to do it. While we all have to find our own path through difficulties, there are some things that research shows help people who have experienced trauma to live well and thrive.

The course covers:

• What trauma is
• The effects of living through traumatic events
• Explore how we can help Post Traumatic Growth happen

This is a 'Growing' level course and we recommend that you complete a range of other courses and have a good understanding of your own recovery before enrolling. If you are unsure whether this course is right for you, please contact Recovery College and request a learning support call.

Course duration: This one-day workshop runs from 10:00 and will finish no later than 15:30. There will be breaks during the morning and afternoon, and 30 minutes for lunch. The course also includes 30 minutes of 'camera off' independent working time.

This course explores how autistic people can live well and have meaningful and purposeful lives. Like all the Recovery College courses, this has been co-produced with lived and learned experience. In this instance, by autistic people and people with learned experience of Autism

The course is suitable for people who are autistic, who believe or suspect they are autistic, and supporters and professionals looking to enhance their knowledge further around autism.

The course covers:

• The challenges that go alongside an autistic diagnosis.
• Positive ways autistic people can live well.
• An understanding of some of the traits and features of autism, and how they can impact daily life.
• A specially produced workbook with tools and strategies to help.

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours 30 minutes

The course aims to help people understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), whether they have a diagnosis, suspect they have ADHD, or are on the waiting list. The course gives an insight and offers tools on how they can manage their journey through recovery.    

The course covers:

• What diagnosis means
• Emotions
• Co-existing conditions
• The strengths of ADHD
• The challenges of ADHD
• Reasonable adjustments

Course duration : Four sessions of 2 hours 30 minutes

This four-week course focusses on staying safe.

The course covers:

• Revisiting recovery and its drivers
• Understanding the challenges of changing our behaviours
• How we can get ‘stuck’ in traps that keep us in harmful patterns and how to break free from these
• Sharing responsibility for our safety
• Developing skills for independence

Course duration: Four sessions of 2 hours

This is designed for people who want to discover more about their identity and extend their recovery learning.

We advise that you undertake some other Beginning, Building and Understanding courses before you sign up for this one, so that you have a good understanding of your own recovery.

Please contact us and ask for a Course Choices Support Call if you are uncertain if this is the right course for you at this stage of your recovery. As this is a ‘blended learning’ course, which mixes independent and classroom learning, there is an exercise for you to complete before you come to the first classroom session.

Course duration: Three sessions of 2 hours 30 minutes

This course is for anyone who has attended the Recovery College. This blended learning course means you have a booklet to complete in-between sessions. The course is designed to inspire you to research topics that are covered and to implement what you have been learning into your daily life. You are encouraged to be curious about Character Strengths and what yours are or could be.

The course covers:

• Understanding and recognising your own Character Strengths
• How to use your own Character Strengths to support your own recovery and improve your mental health 
• An introduction to Positive Psychology by identifying human strengths and potential rather than deficits and disorders
• How strengths can be used to achieve goals and to flourish 

Course duration: Two sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes