New book offering top tips for young people’s mental wellbeing reaches number one on Amazon

Dr Elaine Beaumont, Lecturer in Counselling & Psychotherapy, has written the book with Dr Mary Welford. The Kindness Workbook: Creative and compassionate ways to boost your wellbeing is due to be released on Thursday 10 December.  

Elaine says: “Growing up can be juggling act. Our bodies and hormones change, usually at the same time as important decisions about our future need to be made. We often put extra pressure on ourselves, compare ourselves unfavourably to others and excessively worry about what other people think. Add in exams, interviews, relationships, social media, peer pressure, celebrity culture and everyday stressors, and it's no wonder wellbeing can take a nosedive. The Kindness Workbook is a modern-day guide to help people navigate such complex times.”

Using creative exercises, examples and prompts, The Kindness Workbook aims to teach the skills of problem-solving, using guided imagery, mindfulness, mind maps, vision boards, letter-writing, music, physical activity, drama and art to help readers learn to value their true self. It uses icons to help signpost different sections and has eye-catching illustrations and worksheets, all of which aim to boost wellbeing. 

The book is aimed at young people, and the illustrations come from young artist Phoebe Munday, who was only 14 years old herself when she began work on the book.

Elaine explains: “One of the most important things we can all do for our own wellbeing is to learn to be kind to ourselves, to be our own best friend rather than our own worst enemy. This year has been a difficult one for many young people with the uncertainty of school and college closures, exam upheaval and isolation from friends and extended family.

“One of the ideas we discuss in the book is the idea of using the mnemonic K.I.N.D.N.E.S.S (see illustration above) as a prompt to help people focus on key (kindness) ingredients that help build and maintain health."

The "kindness ingredients" are:

• Keep learning
• Interact
• Notice
• Decide
• Nurture
• Exercise
• Self-care
• Support others

The Kindness Workbook: Creative and compassionate ways to boost your wellbeing is available to pre-order on Amazon now.