Resources for your self-care plan

Photo by Dan Dimmock on Unsplash

Self-care is a bit of a buzz word these days. Unfortunately, lots of people are ready to dismiss it, at the very time we all need it most. If you’ve been affected by a work-related tragedy and are coping with illness, injury or grief; if you face challenges to your mental health; or if you’re simply trying to keep things balanced while you navigate the pandemic and all of life’s other currents, you need a plan for your own self-care.

Threads of Life has designated July as our annual self-care month. But self-care is important every month, every week, every day. Here are some of our favourite links and resources to help you design your personal self-care plan:

• Our Threads of Life Self-Care Quiz – It’s not scientific, but you can use the quiz as a baseline and reminder of what’s important. Take it again later and compare your results to see how you’re coming along! 
• Threads of Life’s self-care blog posts – We’ve gathered all the posts from the past couple of years into one web page for you, for quick reference. 
• Mindfulness and meditation are important tools to help us pause, breathe and be present in our own lives. There are a wealth of resources online if you search, but several of our Threads of Life staff like mindful.org. You can pay to subscribe, but there are plenty of free articles and meditations as well. (Check out Five Steps to Wind Down and Fall Asleep – we all need help with that!)
• The International Self-Care Foundation is a UK-based charity that seeks to champion and standardize ideas about self-care. If you’re interested in a more scientific approach, read about their Seven Pillars of Self-Care. 
• July 24 is Self-Care Day (that’s why we chose July as our #SelfCareMonth!) The Self-Care Day web page is a project of Crisis Text Line and offers a load of great ideas for promoting mental and physical wellness.
• What works for us – Threads of Life’s Volunteer Family Guides offer a grab bag of self-care ideas from their own tool kits.

If you’d like to connect directly with one of our expert writers and facilitators:

• Barbara Collins, registered psychotherapist and art therapist: drawingfromwithin.ca
• Mackenzie Costron, certified music therapist: FindYourVoiceMusicTherapy.com
• Roy Ellis, therapist, author and speaker: royfellis.com
• Morgan Story, certified yoga instructor: Karma Yoga Studio Guelph (Facebook)
• Audrey Stringer, bereavement counsellor, facilitator and writer: astringofhope.com

Please use what’s helpful to you, and remember to be as kind to yourself as you are to others.