Pandemic or no pandemic, working in healthcare can be stressful. And yet stress is a risk factor for illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s not to mention its impact on everyday life. It’s time to take control of your stress but don’t worry, you don’t have to do it alone.
Write Well for Physiotherapists
The online learning community WriteWell and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have joined forces to offer free places on their workshops and courses to physiotherapists and other key workers. There are a limited number of places though so to get your six-month free spot, sign up as soon as possible before 31 March.
How Can Writing Help Reduce Stress?
Writing has long been known to help manage stress be it writing diaries, letters or even fiction. You don’t have to be a ‘good’ or experienced writer either, you can be a complete beginner and still enjoy the stress-relieving benefits.
Numerous studies have revealed the sweeping calming effect that writing has upon someone, even if they’re writing about something unrelated to their source of stress. For instance, one study has shown that writing helped alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. Others have shown that writing about emotional events can help people come to terms with what has happened and provide long-term benefits.
Even the simple act of writing down what’s weighing on your mind before bed can have a calming effect; getting those worries out allows you to sleep in peace. Seeing concerns written down can also minimise them. There is no bad form of writing either, from poetry to a good ol’ rant, putting pen to paper can really help.
The WriteWell Programme
If you’ve ever experienced the blocked feeling of a blank page, don’t worry. WriteWell provides all sorts of interesting writing exercises to help get you going. These include:
- Quizzes
- Prompts
- Courses
- Q&As
- Book groups
- Challenges
- Lots of resources
You can choose to use these tools to write on your own or join in with live sessions online and discuss the topics. If you never want to show another human what you’ve written, that’s absolutely fine; this is a programme for you.
Everything in the WriteWell offering is available 24/7 online with no time commitments or deadlines. Even the live events are recorded so you don’t have to miss out hearing what the experts say.
Write Your Way into a Calmer Mind
If you’re looking for a creative outlet or a way to unpack your experiences or stress, do consider signing up for WriteWell. This free, six-month access offer is a fantastic opportunity for physiotherapists and other key workers to take some time for themselves and connect with the page.
To see if you’re eligible and to sign up, head to WriteWell here. You must sign up before 31 March.
