Step 2: All Courses

Mindful Sewing  encourages sewers to forget about perfection and forget about the finished article. Instead, it encourages the idea of enjoying the process of sewing for sewing's sake. It’s about the journey, not the destination. It isn't about mending or making garments from a pattern. Neither is it about working towards a goal or a timeframe.

Mindful sewing is about using the needle and thread in the same way you'd use a paintbrush. It's about creating art, about enjoying the process rather than worrying about the product.  It does not  matter if your stitching isn't the best. The focus of mindful sewing is on the joy of creating. What the final product looks like isn't relevant. If it's got raw edges, so be it. If a few of the stitches are wonky, it doesn't matter.

Mindful sewing is about letting your creative juices flow and just running with it. There are no hard and fast rules about what you need or what you should do

We are running a 4-session Mindful Sewing course for students who would like to explore this technique.  Each session will last for 2.5 hours during which you will have the opportunity to learn some basic principles and explore your own creativity using fabrics, threads, buttons , lace and other haberdashery items.

We will provide all the fabric etc but if you have scraps or remnants of fabric do bring these along. If you have your own sewing scissors and needles please bring them but we can provide them if you don’t.

Date:  Thursday's 22nd, 29th January and 5th, 12th February

Time: 10am - 12:30pm

Venue: Broadway House

Some feedback and student comments after our last course...."Meeting like minded people and being introduced to something new which was a challenge to begin with then became a real joy with plans for making more.  It has refreshed my love of stitching and embroidery and given me real confidence.  It has helped enormously with a recent bout of huge anxiety.  Many things, easy company, joyful distraction, rewarding activity.   Informal inspiration.  Relaxation within the group. Being able to let things go, no right or wrong, just being.  Informal, social, laughs & quiet time spent on the sewing".

Here are some examples of Mindful Sewing:-

Join the Recovery in Mind team for a 'proper' walk!  This is a 4.5 mile circular walk from Bagnor via Boxford with some of it along the River Lambourn.

We will start and finish at The Watermill Theatre, using their overflow carpark to park in.

Please wear sturdy footwear and bring weather appropriate clothing, a bottle of water plus flask and snack.  There are no stiles on this walk.

Date:  Wednesday 11th February

Time:  10am - 1pm

Venue: Meet in the overflow car park at The Watermill Theatre.

This four-week expanded course will help you to understand the concepts of assertiveness and self-esteem and how they are developed. You will also learn a number of techniques for improving your assertive behaviour (eg ‘saying no’) and building self-esteem, to raise your quality of life and relationships with others.

This is an invitation to students who are new to these topics and for those who may have looked into them before and would benefit from a refresh.

Date: Tuesday's 24th February and 3rd, 10th, 17th March

Time: 1:30 - 4pm

Venue: Broadway House

Join Gillian and Cath at the library to enjoy reading together. The aim is to enjoy reading and listening to reading, a variety of texts will be explored during this 5-week course. No prior reading is required, just sit back, enjoy the literature by chatting about it and perhaps take a turn at reading aloud if you would like to.  New material will be used for each course.

A comment from a previous attendee. “ This is nothing like being at school!”

And it isn’t a book group either. This is a unique shared reading experience: come along and give it a go!

Start Date:  Tuesday 24th February 10:30am - 12 noon

Subsequent dates: Tuesday's 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th March

Location: Broadway House (24th February & 24th March), Carnegie Room at the Library the middle 3 weeks.

This course has come about in response to student’s feedback from the talk we had from Psychiatrist Gwen Adshead in April entitled ‘Living with uncertainty’. We hope this 2-week course will enable students to step back from everyday life to look at their current situation and where they would like to be, and thereby feel more comfortable with the inevitable uncertainties of life.

Kawa means ‘River’ in Japanese, and this OT theory was put together by a Canadian, Japanese OT some years ago. Having been on a course with him, we have adapted his ideas into a practical format so RiM students can produce their own visual representation of the flow that their life is taking, and possible changes that could be made to improve how you live your life and improve your wellbeing.

This course is suitable for students who have completed Welcome to Recovery plus some of the other courses we offer and wish to view their life challenges with a different perspective. You are welcome to join us for a ‘unique variety of journey down the river’! (…..on paper not in real life!)

Date: Wednesday's 25th February and 11th March

Time: 2pm - 4pm

Venue: Broadway House, Newbury

Join Cath for a morning of creative writing around the topic of Hope.  An opportunity to express ourselves creatively through the written word.

Date:  Thursday 5th March

Time: 10am - 12 noon

Venue: Broadway House, Newbury

The Recovery in Mind team will guide us with a seasonal creative project, come and join in and 'get in the flow'.

Date:  Thursday 12th March

Time: 10am - 12noon

Venue: Broadway House, Newbury

The Five Ways to Wellbeing (devised by the New Economics Foundation) is a very simple practical framework which addresses five key areas of life which have been demonstrated to promote positive mental health and wellbeing. We have run this as a 5-week course in previous years and are now adapting it to offer an introductory workshop to consider the five themes of learning, connecting, keeping active, giving and taking notice, and how we might implement these in our everyday lives and habits.

Following this, we will offer a series of standalone sessions and workshops which focus on one or more of these themes. These may be sessions run by the Recovery in Mind team, or other partner organisations such as Sport in Mind, The Volunteer Centre or the Watermill Theatre, and are an excellent opportunity to access some of our great local community resources.

These sessions will be open to all students who have attended either the introductory workshop or our previous 5-week course. We have found the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ to be a very useful follow-up to ‘Welcome to Recovery’. It may also be helpful for students who wish to revisit the concept and refresh or develop their wellbeing practice further.

You are welcome to book on to as few or as many of these follow-on sessions as you like, to suit your own needs. We hope to run a variety of these ‘linked workshops’ at different times throughout the year. They will be practical and fun, often involving getting ‘out and about’ in accessible local venues.

We look forward to you joining us on our Five Ways to Wellbeing journey!

Course date:  Thursday 19th March

Timing:  10am - 12 noon

Venue: Broadway House

As part of our ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing” programme we are running a session to consider the importance of ‘giving’ on Thursday 26th March at 10.00am-12.00pm.  Chris Read from the Volunteer Centre will talk about the many and varied volunteering opportunities in the local community.  There will be space to explore the benefits of volunteering as well as addressing any questions or concerns you may have.

This is an ideal opportunity for anyone considering or wanting to find out more about volunteering.  Or, for anyone wishing to consider the value of giving in a more general sense.

Ideally, students will have attended the introductory Five Ways to Wellbeing Workshop on the 19th March, or else will have attended a previous Five Ways to Wellbeing course.