In Your Shoes - Alison Henderson, DACC

Five steps to mental wellbeing

A very wise woman (Wendy Callander, Executive Director, Wellbeing Works) took part in our Take a Break Webinar last week to talk about how precious mental health is and how we need to contually work at it. Something that Wendy talked about resonated with lots of us and I thought it was important to share it, in case you've not come across it before, or want an easy place to find it again...

Evidence suggests there are five steps we can all take to improve our mental wellbeing. If you give them a try, you may feel happier, more positive and able to get the most from life - particularly at this time of social distancing:

• connect:connect with the people around you: your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Spend time developing these relationships - we can all use the telephone, connect via social media and find online quizzes to challenge us
• be active:take your daily exercise, get up and move around at home, find your local PT instructor's Zoom online classes
• keep learning: learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence. There are so many online ways to learn: track down that youtube cooking course, start learning to play a musical instrument, or figure out how to fix your bike. 
• give to others: even the smallest act can count, whether it's a smile, a thank you or a kind word. Larger acts, such as volunteering via the many services looking for our support at the moment, can improve your mental wellbeing 
• be mindful: be more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges. Write a diary in a lovely notebook or online in a document or an app. 

NHS Inform has lots of information and you only have to google it to find About 362,000,000 results!

You can view our webinar here to see the discussion and thoughts from Wendy and fellow Chamber Member Kevin Anderson of The Story Edge who shared his own experiences - thanks to them both!

Practice your own Five Steps this week - I know I will...

Busy start to the week!

So today was all about admin & catching up with myself! Because it's the school holidays, things are definitely a bit quieter and I've been able to sort myself out and plan for the next six weeks. We've got some fantastic events coming up, and great plans to grow the Chamber with some new initiatives to help members raise their profiles - exciting times.

Sunshine & magazines

The sunshine continues this week - doesn't it make us all feel really happy? I'm noticing a real buzz around Dundee & Angus at the moment, and today has been no exception. I've been talking to lots of people on the phone today...we've been invited to participate in a meeting with Scottish Government to understand more about their Business Pledge and how it will affect businesses. Also the magazine proofs came back from the designer - still lots of work to do on it though!

Code Club anyone?

Kerry & I had a visit to the DCA today to discuss us holding a Code Club for business event later in the year. A code club taster would give us a fun event, a look at what coding is all about and the chance to get hands on in learning & playing with some code. The event will lead onto an optional MIT coding programme and we're hoping to also schedule in a visit to the Maker Space in the Vision Building, where we can do some hands on activity, even check out some 3D printing.

"Learning to code, just a little, helped me immensely in my career. I can converse and create with the rising leaders of the next generation, the coders themselves" Jason Hirschorn, former Chief Digital Officer, MTV, and President, Sling Media

This image is one of the Lemmings, born, bred & coded right here in Dundee - award winning innovation & creativity - it's what Dundee is all about! Go along and say hello in the Nethergate

Inspiration - the breakfast food of champions

I attended the first Courier Business Briefing at the Old Course Hotel, St Andrews and got a mega dose of inspiration & motivation along with my morning coffee! The event started with a talk by Jim McColl who gave us insights into his business journey, then there was a Q&A panel session.

The whole theme of talent development is absolutely critical and clearly something the whole panel truly believed in, along with providing the right environment in your company to allow people to take calculated risks, feel supported and above all accountable for success, while remaining connected to constant improvement, not judgement or blame.

What's important to me is constantly finding ways to motivate & inspire myself, and today was a brilliant example of that - I'm very fortunate in the roles that I am in that my 'work' (it certainly doesn't feel like hard work, that's for sure!) takes me into contact with such a huge number of inspiring people - people in business working incredibly hard in their own companies, but who also take the time out to share their stories and answer questions - Pass It On...that's something I passionately believe in.

Social Media, Golf and new members

There's no escaping social media - we use it extensively for marketing our Members, and local business news. It's a vital tool for us in letting people know about our upcoming events, developments at the Chamber and keeping everyone in touch with what's happening.

This morning started for me at 6.30, as I begun to share the story about BBC Breakfast broadcasting live from RRS Discovery. Louise Minchin interviewed lots of people about their thoughts on the General Election, and asking about political engagement within Dundee, particularly in view of the large Yes vote, and turnout to vote in the Referendum.

That turned into a news item about the story, followed by a meeting with the team to finalise our plans for the Chamber Golf Tournament - if you are a golfer, watch this space - its at Panmure this year...a challenging but lovely Angus course.

And we've finished the day meeting with one of our newer members, Porters Bar & Restaurant. We're planning a member event with them in June, and have been letting Kevin know how he can make use of their membership to promote the restaurant to the business community. Their food concept is sharing, and I was in on their opening night - I can highly recommend it! The menu developments and plans for the business sound really exciting too.

Cocktail making, friends and fun

A wee preview of my weekend: with my friends, I bid for an auction prize in Jackie Campbell's Roxburghe House Charity Auction in 2014. Our prize? An afternoon of cocktail making & shaking, courtesy of the brilliant West House. We're heading off to the aptly nicknamed Funny Farm at Tealing, the home of Alison & John Wiseman, and the gorgeous Balnuith Alcpacas.

We'll be getting a tour and I'm hopeful that some of John's pigeons will have made in home (they often have to send taxis for them!) - and maybe even get a glimpse of Alison's Perth Races Ladies Day hat - topping last year's number will be no mean feat!

Photos to follow...maybe!