Wellbeing

Tips for Single Parents Juggling Work and Family

Oct 15, 2021

Mette Theilmann from Predictable Parenting shares her tips on how to juggle parenthood and work as a single parent. As a parent of three and a family coach for 18 years, I know how tough it can be juggling parenting and work. Worries about balancing everything — financial challenges, career fulfilment — can all add stress to our daily life. But doing it solo brings these challenges to a whole new level! There's no one to help...

10 Signs You Need a New Job

Oct 08, 2021

Lioness Recruitment identify ten tell-tale signs that will help you recognise if it’s time to leave your current job and move on to pastures new. Everybody has the odd bad day at work and it’s normal to feel bored or frustrated every now and again. There’s nothing wrong with occasional blips, unless of course you find that it starts to happen regularly and every other day seems to be horrendous. If you recognise...

Stress: What it is and what you can do about it

Sep 30, 2021

Clinical reflexologist Nicola Stewart discusses stress, how it affects us and what we can do to manage it. If you find it hard to concentrate, struggle to make simple decisions, worry more than usual, feel ‘down’ or over-anxious, feel tired but can’t sleep – you may be suffering from stress. What is stress? Stress is what happens to the body when the level of pressure it is feeling goes beyond its...

The Power of Acceptance

Sep 23, 2021

Georgie Edwards explains how practicing acceptance can help us manage expectations and enable us to let go and just be . Before we start, Take a deep, long breath in through the nose. Sigh out of the mouth. Perfect. Now ask yourself this question... How am I doing? Try not to think about it too much; let the response come organically. Now, take one more deep breath and allow yourself to relax into this feeling...

What’s Your Fantasy Digital Team?

Sep 17, 2021

We’ve all heard of fantasy football teams, but who would you put in your digital dream team? Who do you need to achieve your digital strategy? Steve Dungworth, digital transformation adviser at Golden Marzipan, takes us through the ultimate ICT super team. Let’s face it, in the housing sector it’s unlikely that there will ever be enough people available to deliver at the pace of change required, especially if...

Apprenticeships in Housing: The Technologist’s Apprentice

Sep 09, 2021

Mark Wilson, Head of IT at Vivid Homes, discusses the value of apprenticeships and how apprentices are making a real difference across their business. There was a time in my career when I had a ‘downer’ on apprenticeships, which was counter-intuitive because when I left school, I did a four-year Ministry of Defence apprenticeship. I’d become stuck in a rut, thinking that modern apprenticeships were not...

Habits For a Happier Life at Home

Aug 31, 2021

Developing positive habits at home can actually impact your mood with positive effects. Lorena Romo from Porch shares her tips and suggestions on how to create household habits that will help you build a framework for a happier life. Building and maintaining good habits can provide our lives with a positive framework, but these habits don’t simply happen by chance. It’s pretty easy to fall into bad habits that impede...

Ecotherapy in the City: How Urban Nature Boosts Wellbeing

Aug 19, 2021

Psychologist Rachel Ward Lilley discusses the importance of nature in urban areas and how it supports our wellbeing. More than half of the world’s population has gravitated to cities and, in doing so, has become disconnected from the essential elements of nature – the countryside, oceans, mountains and all the life that abounds in them. Civilisation flourishes in cities, where humans interact and exchange ideas, without...

A Dose of Nature

Aug 12, 2021

Psychologist Rachel Ward Lilley tells us why connecting with nature is essential for our mental and physical wellbeing. Since the Industrial Revolution began, the pattern of our daily lives has been dominated by the way we work. Employment in factories, offices and retail has meant that the majority of us have been obliged to lead our lives according to the clock, not by the natural biorhythms determined by the cycles of the...

Bimbling: The Benefits of ‘Being’, Not ‘Doing’

Aug 04, 2021

What exactly is ‘bimbling’? Psychologist Rachel Ward Lilley explains how it brings a joyful feeling of freedom from the tyranny of routine and relaxes the mind, opening it to fresh experiences that you otherwise might not have encountered . Planning for recreational trips can sometimes feel like a bit of a chore, especially if we are keen to be reassured by timetables and pre-booked seats. It’s comforting to know that...

Why Summer is Important for Wellbeing

Jul 29, 2021

Rachel Ward Lilley shares her thoughts on why we should embrace summertime and how the season benefits our health and wellbeing. Most of us will be familiar with the song, “Summertime, and the living is easy…” It has been popular since it was a hit way back in 1934. Perhaps that’s because it is so evocative of the subject and it strikes a visceral and universal chord with our human psyche, proof – if any were...

How to Make the Most of Your Annual Leave: A Sideways Look at Holidays

Jul 21, 2021

Summer has arrived and many of us will be planning a week or two off to relax or take a holiday. Our resident psychologist, Rachel Ward Lilley, will be sharing a series of articles over the next couple of months talking about the benefits of taking a break and relaxing over the summer. This week, Rachel focuses on how to enjoy and make the most of your annual leave. These last eighteen months have been life-changing in...

The Benefits of Corporate Reflexology

Jul 14, 2021

Clinical reflexologist Nicola Stewart shares her expertise on the importance of corporate reflexology and how it can improve staff wellbeing. I am a clinical reflexologist based in Cheshire and part of my services include corporate reflexology. To kick things off, I’ll explain what reflexology is and how it works. What is reflexology? Reflexology is a complementary therapy based on the principle that different points, or...

June Reads: Wellbeing Book Recommendations

Jun 28, 2021

Here’s this month’s list of our favourite books that aim to improve your performance and wellbeing. Whether you want to reduce stress, become more productive or unleash your full potential, we hope these books help you feel more inspired and positive. Ten Times Happier by Owen O’Kane (HQ, Paperback/Ebook/Audiobook, May 2020) Owen O’Kane is a psychotherapist, former NHS Clinical Lead and author of...

Tips for Parents Working from Home

Jun 25, 2021

Many of us have become accustomed to working from home but it's still a struggle balancing work and family life. Mette Theilmann from Predictable Parenting shares her tips on managing working from home as a parent. During the pandemic I have worked very closely with a number of parents who have had to work from home while having their children around. Although the world has started to open up again, many of us have...

7 Ways to Become More Resilient

Jun 16, 2021

Resilience. We hear this word a lot. We hear people refer to resilience when they speak about change. But what exactly is resilience and how can we unleash its benefits to develop and fulfil our potential? Kathryn Eade, resilience expert and founder of Up+thrive, shares her insights and strategies on recognising and building resilience. Does an elastic band have qualities? I launched my business with a goal, that goal was...

Supporting LGBT Mental Health at Work

Jun 01, 2021

Health Assured , the UK and Ireland's largest independent and award-winning employee assistance programme provider, share their advice on how to support and promote LGBT mental health in the workplace. Research carried out by Anglia Ruskin University has found that gay and lesbian jobseekers are 5% less likely to be offered a job interview than heterosexual applicants with comparable skills and experience. As an employer, you have a...

How to Deal with Bullying at Work

May 26, 2021

Bullying at work can take shape in many different forms. We expect the perpetrator's actions to be aggressive and in-your-face but in reality workplace bullying is more subtle so harder to spot. Lioness Recruitment's helpful guide will show you how to identify and stop bullying at work and help you get the advice and support you need. Workplace bullying generally includes acts or verbal comments that could hurt or mentally isolate...

Signal Boost for Digital Skills

May 19, 2021

We Are Digital’s chief executive, Matt Adam, outlines the digital skills gap facing the UK’s employers and the digital marketing roles opening up across the job market for tenants as a result. Finding work and income-generating opportunities for tenants is an ongoing concern for housing providers. The pandemic has changed the workplace, possibly forever, and finding a job offline in lockdown has become impossible for many....

May Reads: Top Nature and Wellbeing Books

May 13, 2021

Since the pandemic hit, we have been confined to living and, for some of us, working indoors. During lockdown, our encounters with nature have had a huge impact on our wellbeing. Going for a walk in the park, listening to bird song and the sound of the wind in the trees overhead has given us some much-needed solace in these difficult times. Understandably, this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is nature so we’ve...

How to Re-Evaluate the ‘Return to Normal’

May 12, 2021

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16 May), Sandy McKay, certified Co-Active Coach, tells us how Co-Active Coaching can help us re-evaluate our lives as we 'return to normal' after a very difficult year. Coaching the person, not the problem Many people have been re-evaluating their lives since the pandemic started and as a Co-Active coach, it is a topic that’s recurring with my clients. It’s at the very crux of...

How to Look After Your Mental Health Whilst Job Searching

May 11, 2021

Lioness Recruitment share their advice on how to manage your mental health whilst job hunting so that you have a happier and more productive experience. Job hunting is usually an intense process and can have a huge impact on your mental wellbeing. Especially, as for most people, their career is closely linked to their identity, so searching for a job is like searching for a piece of themselves and until that piece is in place,...

Noticing and Connecting with Nature During the Pandemic

May 10, 2021

Dr Iain Hamlin, Post-Doctoral Researcher, and Miles Richardson, Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby and Head of the Nature Connectedness Research Group, examine how noticing, connecting with or spending time in nature during the coronavirus lockdowns has affected the wellbeing of both ourselves and our natural environment. During the restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic, people have...

Supporting wellbeing in the workplace