Recovery Colleges in Surrey and North East Hampshire, which provide a series of free courses to help people improve their health and wellbeing, are now offering courses online.
The Recovery Colleges provide educational courses and workshops on a range of psychological, mental and physical health conditions. They are open to anyone aged 18+ living in Surrey or North East Hampshire.
Courses span a range of topics, including self-care for mental and physical health conditions, creative pursuits such as creative writing, and employment courses. They are developed and delivered by people who all have lived experience of mental or physical illness, or are supporting someone with a mental or physical illness.
The Recovery Colleges are delivered in partnership with voluntary, NHS and local authority organisations and are led by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Over 200 people have signed up to take the new online courses. Previously courses were delivered in person at a range of community locations however due to Covid-19 and the need to socially distance, courses are now provided online.
All online courses have been designed with the impact of Covid-19 in mind and new courses covering topics such as relationships, loneliness and isolation, self-compassion and working from home are now available.
Rebecca Isherwood-Smith, Recovery College Manger, said: “During these uncertain times we can all experience challenges that affect our mental health and wellbeing which is why we have worked hard to translate many of our courses into an online format.
“Every effort has been made to ensure online courses are as interactive as possible to retain the sense of togetherness we’d have felt had they been delivered in person. We are also providing pre-recorded courses to enable students to learn at a time that is convenient to them.”
Feedback from students who have completed the new online courses has been really positive. One student said: “The facilitators were fantastic and supportive and I felt like I was actually with people! It was great seeing everyone and being able to interact as if we were actually all together.”
To access the courses, you must first enrol as a student by completing an application form. You can request a form by emailing recovery.college@sabp.nhs.uk or download a copy from www.sabp.nhs.uk/recoverycollege.
Once enrolled, students will be able to view and book onto the courses on offer via an online catalogue.
