WELCOME TO THE OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the October edition of the ASA newsletter. This month we’ve got bitesize learning on Managing your mind at work, Working Smarter Not Harder, and Being Proactive.
In October it’s Black History Month and Family Learning Festival. World Mental Health Day is on 10 October, World Food Day on 16 October, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, and National Mentoring Day is on 27 October.
Advice Skills Academy Training
Dates for ASA Training so far:
- Tuesday 9 October 2019 Mentoring
- Thursday 8 and 22 November – one and a half days training on Managing Projects
- Monday 19 November and Wednesday 5 December – one and a half days training on Leading and motivating a team effectively
- Tuesday 13 November 2018 and delivered again on Tuesday 22 January 2019– Mental health awareness for frontline workers
- Friday 30 November 2018 – Stay well, stay focused – skills and strategies for managing high workloads in advice services
For more information on the training, and details of how to book, either download the ASA Training booklet here.
Learn Something Today
This Month’s Latest Bitesize Learning
Managing your mind at work
For World Mental Health Day on Wednesday 10 October, watch this BBC Ideas video on how different people have disclosed their mental illness at work, and some tips on how best to talk about mental health in the workplace.
Enjoyed the video? Have a look at the BBC Ideas playlist for ‘Rethinking mental health’ for videos on things like ‘How to manage your worries’, ‘Ruby Wax’s guide to mindfulness’, and ‘Why strangers make good therapists’.
https://www.bbc.com/ideas/playlists/rethinking-mental-health
Smarter Not Harder: How to Succeed at Work
“As I looked around, I noticed that the most successful people I know have one thing in common: they are masters at eliminating the unnecessary from their lives.”
BLOG: Smarter, Not Harder: How to Succeed at Work
This blog article encourages you to think about how to work smarter – not harder, by thinking about your day as having 96 blocks of energy, and then identifying your top 3 goals for the day, and then cutting out all of the other things that don’t help you work towards these goals.
For more insight into how to work smarter not harder have a look at the following websites:
7 Unusual But Effective Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder
This Is How To “Work Smarter Not Harder”: 3 Secrets From Research
Being Proactive
There are seven skills that will be invaluable in a modern workplace, and in life in general. These ‘soft’ skills can be developed to help you grow and adapt in the workplace, identify other opportunities that would be a good fit for you, and will, in general, help you succeed.
The seven skills that we all need are:
- being proactive
- adaptability
- critical thinking
- empathy
- integrity
- optimism
- resilience
Visit the Unimenta website for a really good range of useful and interesting links on being proactive, including links to TED Talks, top tips for being more proactive, and ideas on ways to stop procrastinating.
Below is a funny look at procrastination in a TED Talk from writer / blogger Tim Urban.
October
October is Black History Month in the UK. This annual national celebration aims to spread awareness of and pride in Black contributions to British society, and to foster an understanding of Black history in general.
To find out about events going on across the UK, and for news and articles, visit the Black History Month website:
https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/
For information on some of the activities for Black History Month in Liverpool visit:
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/events/black-history-month-listings.aspx
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/collections/research/sankofa/
Family Learning Festival
The Family Learning Festival is a way to promote and celebrate learning as a family, and all the benefits it can bring. Co-ordinated by the Campaign for Learning, the Family Learning Festival runs throughout October each year.
Learning as a family can help us to become more confident, lifelong learners, and can help bring better health and wellbeing. It can help us find new passions and interests, as well as building better family relationships through sharing fun and interesting activities.
Organisations like libraries, museums, galleries, and children’s centres run activities during the Family Learning Festival, and you can find out what’s happening through the Family Learning Festival website.
http://www.familylearningfestival.com/
Each year the festival has a theme, and this year the theme is ‘Try it here and take it home’.
For ideas on some activities you could organise yourself have a look at the Family Learning Festival Pinterest pages.
World Mental Health Day
10 October
One in four adults and one in ten children are likely to have a mental health problem in any given year. This can have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people in the UK, and can affect their ability to sustain relationships, work, or just get through the day.
World Mental Health day is observed every year on 10 October, and aims to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world. Each year has a theme, and for 2018 the theme is ‘young people and mental health in a changing world’.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/world-mental-health-day
World Food Day
16 October
World Food Day is observed every year on 16 October, and is a day of action aimed at tackling global hunger. World hunger is on the rise – over 815 million people are suffering chronic undernourishment.
“While millions go hungry, 600 million people suffer from obesity, and a further 1.3 billion are overweight. We can change this.” Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
Every year a wide range of events – from marathons and hunger marches, to exhibitions, contests and concerts – are organised by organisations in over 150 countries, to celebrate World Food Day.
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
17 October
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (aka ‘Poverty Day’) is observed each year on 17 October. Established by the United Nations in 1992, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty aims to raise awareness and act as a call to action for governments, organisations, and individuals to raise awareness, and work towards ending poverty in all its forms. The day was established as it was recognised that poverty is a violation of human rights, and that there needed to be an international response to ensure these rights are respected.
National Mentoring Day
27 October
National Mentoring Day was launched to recognise the significant benefits of mentoring across the world and takes place on October 27th each year.
Everyone from individuals, companies, schools, communities, universities and governments are encouraged to share their own mentoring success stories and case studies and to use the day to participate in raising awareness about mentoring, what mentoring schemes are available and promoting the positive benefits that mentoring brings.
http://nationalmentoringday.org/
For organisations, mentoring can improve employee engagement, confidence and transferable skills. Advice Skills Academy is running a pilot of a mentoring programme across the ASA partner organisations. If you would like to know more about the ASA mentoring programme email contact@adviceskillsacademy.org.uk or visit our ASA Mentoring Programme Webpage.