“Marjolein has got such a lovely warm personality and friendly nature and she is brilliant at engaging with young people as well as adults.”
Wellbeing Therapy Solutions’ new occupational therapist, Marjolein Cleaver is not a ‘lying on the beach’ type of person.
With a two-year-old son, a love of long walks and a passion for travel which has taken her to places like Brazil, New Zealand and the Philippines, that’s a good job too.
Like the rest of us, Marjolein’s life has been forced into a more sedate state by the pandemic but she is hopeful that there are some positives to come out of what we have all been through.
“The pandemic has been a real challenge for everyone, myself included, because we have been taken away from the people we share our lives and our stories with,” she said. “We couldn’t meet for coffees or go the gym or see our friends. That has been really tough for everyone.
Mental health and wellbeing
“But hopefully, the issues that have been raised around mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic have made us more aware of how important it is to us all to look after our mental – as well as our physical health.”
Marjolein is a registered occupational therapist (OT) who has spent 15 years working with young people.
She started out as a youth worker and then found out about OT and knew this was an approach she would love to use.
“I started helping young people and found myself wanting to get more involved and went on to do lots of project work,” she said.
“I am a people’s person and I love being with people. We are all so different and have different make-ups and I find that fascinating. I love going for coffees and sharing stories with people.
Sharing good and bad times
“Life can have its ups and downs and sharing the good and the bad is what we naturally do as people. This is why we have lots of people at parties and weddings because we want to share good times with other people.
“While sharing the bad things we may be going through can also help lighten any load that may be weighing on our shoulders.”
Marjolein joins a thriving Wellbeing Therapy Solutions team at a crucial time for the nation’s mental health and says she cannot wait to make a difference.
“I met Kate through our time working together at a hospice and we became friends,” she said. “I saw her business develop and thought to myself: “That would be my dream job”, so I jumped at the chance to join Kate’s team when the opportunity became available.
“This role gives me the chance to support people on a one-to-one basis and work closely with schools using the skills I have learned as an OT to help young people deal with stress and the worries of everyday life.
Positive effect
“That ability to have an immediate and positive effect on people’s lives is what is great about being an OT.”
Wellbeing Therapy Solutions MD Kate Jackson says she is delighted that Marjolein has joined the team.
“I have known her for a long time and I really value her work. She has got such a lovely warm personality and friendly nature and she is brilliant at engaging with young people as well as adults.
“I have always admired the way that she is a real team player and gets stuck in. She has great ideas, is really creative and I am proud that she has accepted my offer to come and join the team.
“She will bring lots of fun, skills, experience and new ideas and they will all really help the clients that we are working with. Having her onboard will enable us to support even more people than we are at the minute.”
Marjolein will specialise in working with young people from nine years upwards but is available for adult consultations too.
For further information or to book an initial consultation, please email marjolein@wellbeingtherapysolutions.co.uk or call (07868) 822928.
The theme for this week’s Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘nature’ – so I have devised five short challenges to get you connected and improve your wellbeing in the process. Are you ready?
Mental Health Awareness Week is run by the Mental Health Foundation and this year’s theme is nature.
The week runs from May 10-16 and, with that in mind, it got me thinking about the small decisions we can take to protect and nurture our own mental health.
I decided to put together a five-day challenge to encourage people to do a small thing each day to look out for their own mental health.
Nature is important for us both physically and psychologically and it can be hard to cultivate your own mental health without that connection to the outside world.
Challenges
And I wanted these small challenges to be something that people can do without it taking up too much of their time.
It’s important to get outside too, especially with so much in-house isolation having been necessary over the past 14 months. So these challenges will be great if you can integrate them into your normal day.
Over the week, I want to encourage you to explore your link with nature and to create healthy habits and routines which people will hopefully feel like doing more of as lockdown restrictions ease and the summer months arrive.
Good luck
Look out for each daily challenge before 9am, live on our Facebook channel and starting on Monday 10 May.
Good luck and please let me know how you get on in the comment below or on pour Facebook page.
See what people say about the services provided by Wellbeing Therapy Solutions
I am always grateful to people who take the time to provide feedback for the services offered by Wellbeing Therapy Solutions.
Their comments and views help me to shape not only what services the business offers but also how we go about doing it too.
It is also a really rewarding part of being an occupational therapist in that you get to genuinely help people in all sorts of ways so it’s lovely to hear back from them with positive outcomes to the work we have done together.
My thanks to everyone who has taken the time to give me the feedback below…
PAUL SPENCER – MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID COURSE ATTENDEE…..
Paul says: “What really made the course for me was Kate’s warm facilitation skills.
“She has just got this way of making everyone feel comfortable and drawing out their views and experiences. And that enriches the programme for everyone attending.
“So, for anyone who is looking to find out more about mental health or to become a an accredited Mental Health First Aider, I can highly recommend this programme with Kate.”
REV DR TOM WILSON – DIRECTOR FOR THE ST PHILLIPS CENTRE IN LEICESTER….
Tom says: “When lockdown started in March 2020, it quickly became clear to me that many people we work with were struggling with their mental health.
“So it has been a real pleasure to work with Kate Jackson over the past few months.
“Kate ran a fantastic Mental Health First Aid course for a range of people across many different faith communities and since then, she has helped us facilitate a number of conversations with different groups and communities.
“Kate’s professionalism is fantastic and she brings a wealth of knowledge with a real gentle approach that allows people to find solutions for themselves.”
EXTRA MATERIAL – WATCH: MINDFULNESS WEBINAR – THE FIRST STEPS….
Grounding techniques explained on Radio Leicester’s ‘Zen to Eight’ slot with host Jimmy Carpenter
Have you ever heard of the ‘Zen to Eight’ slot on Radio Leicester in the mornings?
Well, it’s something that host Jimmy Carpenter does at, funnily enough, ten to eight!
It’s a 10-minute part of the show where, as they say, they ‘press pause from the news and set you up for the day with tips from the world of health and wellbeing’.
It’s a great initiative that serves the community in a positive way so well done to Radio Leicester.
Jimmy invited me to be a guest on that slot earlier this week and, as ever, it was a pleasure to be on the show and explain to listeners about some grounding techniques.
Grounding tool
I had previously posted on the Wellbeing Therapy Solutions social media channel a bit about the ‘Five senses grounding tool’ which is a useful part of mindfulness practise.
As Jimmy explained, senses are easy to take for granted because we use them all of the time.
But they can be really useful for keeping us in the present moment and that helps us stop our minds racing towards something that has happened in the past or worrying about something that may happen in the future.
The knock-on effect of that is that it can help us keep feelings like anxiety and pressure at bay and make us feel calmer about what’s around us in the present moment.
Senses activity
If you would like a go, just follow me…
Stop and take two or three deep breaths. Our senses help us connect to our body by using what’s around us.
Then, look and name five different things you can see around you. Anything you like. Say them out loud if you want to.
Then find four things that have different textures – and touch them.
Listen for three different sounds using your auditory senses and if you are somewhere quiet, that can take a while. Just be patient. There is no rush.
Then pick out two different things you can smell. Again, this may take some time but you can move to find them if you want.
Finally, find one thing you can taste. Maybe pop a mint in your mouth if you are struggling to find something.
Hopefully, after doing that, you will be very much in the present moment and you will have stopped your mind wandering wherever it was going.
If you get used to knowing when it is a good time to do this, it will help you. It is basically about practising calmness, connecting with here and now, and you can do it wherever you like.
Please let me know if it has helped you by writing in the comments below.
Positive outlook
Finally, Tuesday marked a year since the start of our first lockdown.
I remember 23 March, 2020 and wondering what was about to come for me, my family and friends.
It’s safe to say none of us could have predicted the impact and just how much the pandemic has affected so many of us in so many different ways, young or old. It has been a tremendously anxious time for all of us.
Hopefully, we are heading towards brighter times now. I have been trying to focus on all of the positives that may be around the corner to keep looking after my own mental health and remaining convinced that we can get to the next phase of re-opening.
I hope the next few months provide you with some positivity and calmness and that we can be courteous and kind to each other to help us all emerge from a hugely testing 12 months.
Listen to… Kate on Radio Leicester. Scroll through to 1hr 52mins and press ‘play’ here.
If your child has been finding things difficult during the coronavirus pandemic, I can promise you, they are not alone. Here’s how I can help them develop their own coping methods.
Children have had their lives turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.
They have been told to stay away from school and told to study at home instead. They have been cooped up inside for long periods, while their parents and carers have been dealing with a multitude of problems that have been thrown our way since the start of 2020.
While adults are more adept (sometimes) at sharing how they feel, often, children’s vocabulary and obvious lack of emotional maturity make it difficult for them to do so.
This can lead to all sorts of feelings of anger, fear, anxiety and insecurities among our young population and often is shown through their behaviour.
Children’s health and wellbeing
If your child has been finding things difficult, I can promise you, they are not alone.
As an occupational therapist, working with children aged 8 and upwards, I have had lots of experience of dealing with children who have been struggling and I wanted to explain just how I go about working with them to help their mental health and wellbeing.
First of all, I always offer a complementary phone/Zoom consultation with a parent/carer (and child where appropriate) initially to get to know each other better. If we are all happy, we can go from there.
If your child has never been to see an occupational therapist before, I thought it would be useful to list some of the common reasons why children come to see me.
Feeling worried or scared a lot of the time
Feeling they can’t control their emotions
Struggling to concentrate or complete their school work
Having negative or ‘unhelpful’ thoughts which stop them from doing things they want to
Having ‘angry outbursts’ or ‘temper tantrums’
Changes in behaviour at home/school
Having low self-confidence or self-worth
Finding it hard to make or keep friendships
Experiencing difficulties
There are various ways I can help children who are experiencing these difficulties and they include:
Listening and giving them a place away from home/school where they can talk about what’s happening
Teaching them about emotions and what happens to their bodies/minds
Finding strategies to manage and overcome difficulties
Finding and learning words to explain how they are feeling
Help them find a balance of activities
Find ways to express and understand themselves
Use fun and creative activities
Building a positive therapeutic relationship
Building their confidence and self-value
My aim is to provide short-term and effective therapy sessions which are specifically tailored to each child I see. I offer a welcoming and calm environment where young people can feel valued and respected and want to help them find new ways to manage emotions and feelings to build self-confidence and improve self-esteem.
Positive activities
Helping children is different from helping adults so I create fun, engaging and individually tailored sessions with positive activities. Each young person is empowered to identify their strengths and develop ways to do the activities in daily life that they want to be able to do.
Asking for help can be a daunting step and I am keen to put parents’ minds at ease before they commit their child to any session with me, so please get in touch for an informal chat first of all.
Give me a call on (07426) 083189 or email me at kate@wellbeingtherapysolutions.co.uk
