Chanting your favourite hymns to the sound of the morning shower may just be the right way to start off your day, and improve your mental health.
Local counsellor Krista Osborne challenges St. Albertans to try it at least once during her month-long mental health boot camp. The camp, starting Saturday, gives people a different task to fulfil each day to relax and improve awareness of their mental well-being.
“We often talk about the mentally ill and how they need support. And what I think we miss is that we all need support and that focusing on mental health is also about keeping you well,” she said.
Every Friday, Osborne said she will post a list of tasks for the week on her Facebook wall. She will also remind participants of the daily task each morning on her Twitter.
The tasks will be short in duration and are designed to help the person centre on themselves for a couple of minutes each day, she said. Exercises can be fun and silly, such as the singing in the shower, or related to what Osborne teaches her clients in her practice, such as deep breathing, goal setting and soul searching techniques.
After someone completes a task, they can post to Twitter or in the comment section on her Facebook wall that they did it, she said.
“It helps in terms of mindfulness and learning about yourself and what helps calm you down,” she said, adding that the boot camp cannot replace real therapy and people should not post about their personal issues on her Facebook wall.
“Obviously in an online forum that can be very dangerous. It’s just about encouraging people about how to cope rather than actual therapy.”
While no one is required to repeat every task, Osborne said the project encourages finding out what exercises work best. She hopes that people will encourage others to participate by posting videos or by writing little descriptions of how they felt about their daily exercise.
She stressed that it’s okay to participate in the boot camp without posting about it.
“I am trying to give people a taste of that therapy doesn’t have to be stressful or deep and scary. That it can be fun,” she said. “The best way to deal with mental health is to role model it. So if I am taking care of myself then I am also going to help other people.”
The mental health bootcamp will start Saturday, Feb. 1 and will end February 28. To participate “like” Krista Osborne Counselling Services on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @kristaosborne or follow the #mhbootcamp hashtag.
