Staff at the Orthopaedic Hospital have been learning simple mindfulness practices to help build their emotional resilience for wellbeing sessions.

Twenty-seven staff members at the Oswestry-based hospital signed up for the programme to provide them with a better way to change their relationship with anxiety and stress to improve their well-being.

The programme consisted of six sessions run by Helen Marsh from Shropshire Mindfulness, which offers a variety of internationally recognised programmes that help people become more aware of their thoughts and feelings so they are better at managing them.

The sessions covered; what is mindfulness, finding steadiness through your body, dealing with difficulty, the power of your thoughts, communicating and interacting with others and finding balance through mindfulness.

Sarah Thomas, senior learning and development advisor, said: “The aim of the sessions were to provide staff with the tools they need to manage their relationship with stress both in and out of work.

“The main focus was encouraging healthy mental habits through meditation which have been shown to lead to an improved sense of well-being.”

Sue Pryce, deputy director of Human Resources, added: “We had feedback from staff asking for training that will help improve their emotional wellbeing and we looked at a few different options before deciding on a mindfulness programme.

“The feedback we’ve received from these sessions has been extremely positive and we’re going to run another cohort of sessions soon.”

Sue Sayles, infection prevention and control nurse, was one member of RJAH staff who attended the sessions.

She said: “I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the mindfulness approach.

“The sessions gave me valuable knowledge in self-awareness and relaxation which can be used to reduce my stress and anxiety levels in day-to-day life, both at work and home.

“I would recommend a mindfulness course to anyone.”