Hey there you!
I’m Gareth, from Health, Counselling and Disability Services!
I am a Be Well Plan trainer. In fact, there are a few of us trainers here at the University including some students!
For the last couple of years I have had the pleasure and honour to be able to train 150+ students in this innovative mental health and wellbeing program.
I talk about the program a lot in my work, so we thought it was about time that I provided a written description of the program for those who want to learn more about it and maybe sign up to participate in it in 2025.
The Be Well Plan
The Be Well Plan is an interactive program in which we teach you how to build a tailored wellbeing and resilience plan that you can use at any stage of life to get yourself back on track, cope with difficult times, or simply enhance your mental health and wellbeing.
There are a few versions of the program, but the main one we run here at Flinders is the 5 x 2-hour workshops, delivered over 5 weeks.
In this version of the program, we cover a range of interesting topics (self-compassion, thinking errors, resilience planning, thought defusion, coping strategies, mindfulness and more) and introduce you to a catalogue of wellbeing-related activities from which you can pick different ones to try out in your own life.
We don’t just focus on what kinds of activities are helpful for building mental health, we also focus on how to get those activities embedded into everyday life. We cover goal setting, habit formation and how to build a strategic and deliberate ‘plan’ for how you will care for your mental health.
On top of this, the group nature of the program means you get to surround yourself with other people who are also working to build a better life for themselves, which we pretty much always find leads to a great sense of camaraderie and collective motivation.
The program is built on the evidence-based assumption that individuals can wield some power in shifting their mental health and wellbeing. This isn’t to say that mental health is entirely the responsibility of the individual. On the contrary, the program explores specifically how we respond to the inevitable and sometimes very impactful things that happen to us that are out of our control.
You can learn more from reading the formal flyer.
Why you should do the program
First up, it works! It has been shown in a couple of trials [1,2] to improve a range of mental health outcomes.
“The Be Well Plan program was effective in improving mental health and well-being, including mental well-being, resilience, depression, and anxiety. Participant satisfaction scores and attendance indicated a high degree of engagement and satisfaction with the program.”
But it is also a practical program that helps you navigate a complex area – the human mind!
The human mind is a complex beast! And the health of our mind shapes our overall quality of life. With a healthy mind comes better mood, better productivity, better social integration, a sense of meaning and purpose, the ability to manage stress, the ability to make good decisions/choices and the capacity to manage periods of mental ill health.
There is a good chance that no-one necessarily taught you how to look after your mind, even though it’s a skillset all of us need to learn.
The Be Well Plan teaches you some of the fundamental aspects of how to look after your mind and grow and sustain your mental health. In the same way as you do things to look after your physical health, the Be Well Plan will teach you what to do to look after your mental health.
Oh, and it’s also free. Accessing a program like Be Well Plan in the community would typically come at a cost, but as a Flinders University student, you get access to this program for free 🤑
Oh, there is also a Be Well Mailing list!
In 2024, I wanted to give those who had done the program an option for ongoing learning. So I started the Be Well Mailing List.
Every 3 weeks or so, I’d send out an email exploring content related to the program. I looked at similar programs, Be Well news, specific Be Well Plan techniques and more.
I then decided to open up that mailing list to anyone who wanted to learn more about looking after their mental health.
So whether you’ve done the program before, waiting to do it, or just want tips for looking after your mental health, consider signing up to the Be Well Mailing list.
Sounds great! How do I access the program?
I’m taking registrations of interest for those wanting to do the Be Well Plan in 2025.
Registering your interest is as simple as completing the registration form. From there I will add you to an email distribution list and be in contact soon about possible dates. We’ll try to find dates and times that work for the most people possible.
Gareth
Be Well Trainer
