Recharge - refresh: Mental wellbeing in higher education
University and College Counselling, September 2024

How often have you started a personal and professional development (PPD) event with a swim in a Scottish loch?

Well, that’s just what a hardy bunch did at the start of ‘Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education: Recharge - Refresh yourself and your professional practice’… though, I confess, I wasn’t one of them. Using a fine old Scottish term, I was too feart. 

Based at Glenmore Lodge activity centre, a stone’s throw from the majestic Cairngorm Mountain in the Scottish Highlands, 30 of us assembled for something slightly different to your standard PPD event. 

During COVID-19, many of us sought sanctuary in the outdoors; getting exercise, fresh air and a bit of grounding. In May 2022, Heidi Shingler wrote about Adventure Therapy in this journal,¹ as we found a new dimension to, and a nature-based environment for, therapeutic engagement.

This insightful programme sought to cover two broad themes – how we can use the outdoors therapeutically with our clients, while also enabling us, as helping practitioners, to ‘recharge and refresh’. This theme underpinned the important notion that we need to look after ourselves in order to be effective supporting others. 

I’m really hoping to feature some of the speakers in future issues of this journal, but as a teaser for now, I’ll offer a short platform to the organisers and presenters, who’ll explain their involvement. 

Ruth Allen, Geo-therapist and author of Grounded² and Weathering,³ started with a keynote presentation on ‘Reconnecting with ourselves’. She spoke about the need to become more authentically ourselves, aided by connecting with the five pathways of nature; presence, connection, movement, stillness and solitude. She also led a workshop on creative movement and journalling. 

While I’ve heard of the phrase, I didn’t really know what Bouldering Psychotherapy was. Andy Cross, social worker and counsellor, together with Tessa Tilbe, also a counsellor, and both from the University of Cumbria, provided an excellent explanation. Informed by their two-year pilot research, they highlighted how psychoeducation provided the foundation, which then launched participants, literally, into the physical act of clambering around a climbing wall. 

Andy and Tessa add: ‘Based on research by Luttenberger,⁴ which demonstrates the efficacy of bouldering psychotherapy as a therapeutic intervention, the programme intertwines aspects of theory from different counselling approaches, such as compassion-focused therapy (CFT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The bouldering is used to embed the participant’s understanding of the theory, and allows the participants to practise their mental health management skills, while on the wall. The workshop provided a flavour of how the sessions work. The key theme of the workshop was ‘focus’, demonstrating the power of changing where we direct our attention, in improving, not only wellbeing, but our climbing too.’ 

Geraldine Dufour, HE mental health consultant at Therapeutic Consultations, and co-organiser, ran a workshop on ‘Prioritising wellbeing: creating a wellbeing dashboard’. 

Geraldine summarises: ‘In HE, whether staff or students, we hear about the importance of wellbeing, but much of the advice given is generic – in this session, we explored how we can focus on what is important to us personally, taking account of our individual needs, cultural background, what is available to us and achievable, to create our personal wellbeing dashboard. We explored what wellbeing means to us individually, reflecting on the political and cultural context in which wellbeing takes place, which sometimes ignores social injustice/workers’ rights, and blames individuals for their lack of resilience. We explored the concept of resilience, looked at alternative narratives, before spending time creating our own wellbeing dashboard reflecting our personal priorities.’ 

As this was very much an outdoors event, it was great to have Sean Tierney, counsellor, outdoor therapist and supervisor, walk us through Outdoor Therapy. Sean explained how the outdoors offered a different and alternative therapeutic environment for clients, whether this is in a city centre, along a river or in a park. 

Sean explains: ‘Having worked outdoors with clients since 2019, I wanted to look at how we might be able to use this setting in three ways; personally, professionally and organisationally. As a group, we went on a walk around the grounds at Glenmore Lodge and discussed the practicalities of getting outdoors in various ways, from walking to work, having meetings outdoors, to introducing an outdoor therapy element to HE counselling and support services. 

‘We discussed the concept, the potential barriers and the well-documented benefits. It was a really engaging session which sparked some lively discussion and exciting ideas!’ 

One of the core themes of the event is how we, as therapists in HE, look after ourselves. To this end, Louise Broda, physiotherapist, now coach, and author of Flourishing for healthcare professionals: building compassionate resilience for your wellbeing⁵ ran a workshop on ‘Burnout: an embodied approach’.  

Louise adds: ‘Burnout is something I’ve personally experienced, and am all too familiar with as an experienced physiotherapist. I feel passionate about how important looking after ourselves is, so we have the energy to support others fully. The focus of my session was on releasing emotions through the body (Embodied simply means ‘in our body’) and calming the nervous system down, to come into a more parasympathetic state. We discussed the power of breathing and how to enhance its effects by adding in smell, conscious body ‘checkins’ such as ‘What am I feeling?’, suggestions for how to ‘reset’ in little moments during your day, as well as different types of rest. In addition to this, I got everyone up and moving with some whole body tapping and shaking to music. This really got the energy moving and was my favourite part! 

All of this came together, thanks to the efforts of Allie Scott, Mental Health and Counselling Manager at University of the Highlands and Islands. As well her welcoming introduction and closing plenary session, Allie also ran a workshop on the art of mindful photography. It might seem incongruent to be waving mobile phones around nature in a mindful way, yet she encouraged us to see the outdoors differently, through the prism of the camera on our mobiles. The resulting photos we shared at the end of the workshop revealed a smorgasbord of visualisations of nature. 

Jane Harris, Head of Counselling at the University of Oxford, closed the day with a session on the ‘Power of reflection’, which cleverly pulled all the strands of the day together. 

And back to Allie Scott for a final word: ‘Recharge was born out of a recognition that mental health affects us all, and as practitioners in demanding and complex institutions, we need to be more aware of burnout and its damaging effects on our own mental health. I reflected on the ways I try to look after my mental health are quite similar to the ways I encourage others to do so. To get outside, watch the clouds, walk/run in the woods, ride a bike, listen to the birds, connect with themselves in a non-cognitive way. 

‘With a background in outdoor education, I have seen the powerful use of harnessing the outdoors to create a space for individuals to enhance their autonomy and sense of agency, recognise their inner resilience, and develop coping skills. By helping people to be within their bodies, really tuning in to how they feel and what doesn’t feel right, they can find new ways to connect with themselves, and in turn with others, fostering deeper, healthier relationships. 

‘Using nature-based, creative and somatic practices, we can help students to enhance their autonomy and sense of agency, create opportunities for them to recognise their inner resilience and coping skills, and shift towards longerterm strategies of self-care and wellness. 

‘We need to find space for a holistic support system within our teams, and within our practice with students.’ 

Final thanks to Lucy Robinson and Advance HE for co-ordinating and managing the event. For more information please see the AdvanceHe website.

University and College Counselling September 2024