Winter has well and truly arrived, bringing with it changes to the weather and, for some, their wellbeing. At this time of year, cooler temperatures and shorter days can make things appear more challenging.  

It’s not surprising that many people in the UK struggle during the winter months. Motivation to exercise can dip, we may spend less time outdoors in natural sunlight, and our diet often changes due to festive celebrations like Christmas. 

Why winter impacts our wellbeing 

Shorter d...

In the latest episode of our popular podcast, The Word on Wellbeing, we heard Dr Miller speak about social prescribing and how it is helping the people of Barnet to improve their wellbeing.   

But what is social prescribing?  

At its heart, social prescribing is about empowering people to take control of their wellbeing by identifying the non-medical challenges, such as social isolation, stress, and lifestyle factors, that often impact their health.  

Social prescribing connects individuals t...

As winter approaches, Barnet is turning up the warmth with a celebration of community spirit! Join us for Warmth in Unity, an event all about bringing together our borough’s rich cultural diversity and showing the incredible strength of coming together. 

This special event is a collaboration between our partners at Barnet Social Prescribing and the Barnet Wellbeing Service - we are all united by a shared vision of connection and inclusion. 

Why this matter to us? 

At Meridian Wellbeing, we...

Content Warning: the article contains references to mental health crisis and suicide   

The 10th October was World Mental Health Day, a day when we come together to raise awareness about mental health and the actions we can take to support ourselves and each other.   

Sadly, mental health continues to be something which isn’t spoken about enough, both here in the UK and around the world. The result unfortunately is that many people find themselves unable access support when they need it most -...

January is well known as a traditional time to make new year resolutions. But I don’t think I’m alone in saying this; by the end of the month I haven’t been able to keep up with them. Life gets in the way, unexpected events happen, and therefore I haven’t been able to fully commit to my new year resolutions. This can lead to us feeling despondent, and worse still, giving ourselves a hard time for not being able to achieve these goals.

This year has started different, thanks to what I have learn...

Two of the persistent symptoms I experienced when I was ill with depression was lack of appetite and sleep disruption. Every day for over 100 days.

Aiming to eat three meals a day is incredibly difficult when you don’t have an appetite. Restoration for our body and mind is incomplete due to sleep disruption. Not being able to eat and sleep, at a time when we most need to eat and sleep, is cruel.

People say this is mental illness, but it does also affects us physically. We need food and sleep i...

Out of all the letters in the alphabet, there is one letter which covers an array of wonderful values. This is the letter P.

P is Possibilities. P is for Progress. P is Pride. P is Powerful. Other P’s include:

All of these above P words are Empowering. They allow us to live in the Present moment.

It gives us hope with Possibility, Potential, Plans.

Creativity gives us Poems, Paint, Pen & Paper.

Exercise gives us Pace, Physical, Parks

Good manners include Patience, Polite, Please.

And be...

Blog article written October 2017

I’ve been a mother throughout my unwanted yet unavoidable episodes of depressive illness. I’ve been ill with clinical depression on three occasions over the past 5 years, and one of my biggest challenges at the time of being unwell, was to protect my children throughout this period.

Depression is bleak. The things that usually give us joy turn bleak. It’s difficult to find pleasure in anything. It’s hard to physically function. We can experience physical sympt...

Welcome to February.

Winter is almost behind us. We are on the last leg and we've survived 100% of the winter days. Spring is just around the corner, lighter evenings and warmer weather awaits us. We will soon start seeing nature waking up with spring blossom and new flowers blooming.

February does have some lovely features:

• Lighter evenings. At the beginning of February the sunset is 4.55pm. By the end of February the sunset will be 5.40pm. We are already enjoying the evenings getting ligh
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It’s Winter. It’s dark when we wake up, and often dark before we get home. It can be harder to get out of bed as our bodies go into some kind of ‘hibernation’ state. And who are we to argue with nature? There’s a reason why hedgehogs, bats and bears hibernate for the winter months!

There’s no doubt that something does happen to our body in these darker months. You have to dig deeper for motivation, which in itself can be exhausting. Telling myself alone ‘You must be more motivated’ just isn’t c...