EXMINSTER health and wellbeing charity, Westbank Community Health and Care, held its second Wellbeing Day to provide team members with coping strategies to combat the winter blues and to help them relax, destress and cultivate positive lifestyle habits throughout the year.

The all-day event for staff was held at Westbank’s Healthy Living Centre in Exminster at a time of year that many people find particularly challenging.

The packed programme provided a wide choice of activities including workshops to teach people resilience and stress management skills, promote healthy eating and encourage team members to try out new ways to stay fit and healthy.

Staff were encouraged to explore new hobbies, yoga, experience a sound bath, have a head and neck massage and benefit from an individual health check, as well as take part in a supportive session exploring body image and self-esteem.

Westbank’s CEO Sarah Hicks said: ‘It’s incredibly important that we prioritise looking after ourselves and each other.

‘We held our first colleagues’ Wellbeing Day on ‘Blue Monday’ last year and received so much positive feedback that it is now an annual event in our calendar.

‘The aim is to give our staff some valuable time out from their normal working day to embrace a comprehensive programme of new activities focusing on mindfulness, breathwork and good sleep and eating habits to help cope with all that daily life throws at us, not just challenges at work.

‘This special day is part of our drive to make Westbank a ‘Great Place to Work’ and support our staff however we can.’

Staff feedback to the second event was overwhelmingly positive.

One staff member said: ‘I enjoyed all the activities, especially the breathworks.

‘It was brilliant to help with managing anxiety/understanding the importance of breathing correctly. The sound bath was a revelation and so relaxing and rejuvenating for mind and body, and the head and shoulder massage was brilliant - had so many knots and a lot of tension in my shoulders and she did an amazing job of getting rid of it all in 10 minutes.’

Another said: ‘The sound bath, as I had never tried it before, really benefitted me.

‘The health check was also really good, to get a chance to chat informally about health and wellbeing.

‘Breathworks was really good.

‘All the activities I registered for were excellent, sound bath, yoga, head massage, breathworks they were all were very relaxing.’

Others felt the Eat Healthy session was positive for raising awareness of food choices.

The Wellbeing Day made full use of new and improved onsite facilities at Westbank’s Healthy Living Centre in Exminster.

These include the Community Cookery School; Gymclusive, Westbank’s inclusive and accessible gym; the events studio, treatment rooms and activity room and the charity’s recently rebranded space, the Community Hub at Westbank.