Morwell parents practice self-care through new program
A new wellness program for families called Time Out has been launched by Our Place Morwell to respond to the needs of families looking to improve their health and wellbeing.
Held at Morwell Central and Morwell Park Primary Schools in partnership with Latrobe Leisure, the free weekly program is providing instruction in yoga, meditation, nutrition, self-care, mindfulness and more over eight weeks.
About Time Out
All parents and children are welcome to come along to the sessions which are held at Morwell Park and at Morwell Central, Our Place community facilitator Hannah Copland said.
“The program was set up because we had a lot of requests from our families for help taking time out so they can really focus on themselves,” Hannah said.
“They feel they don’t have time, or they can’t spend money on themselves because it’s all about the kids and their partners. So, it’s a great opportunity for parents to focus on themselves and know this is benefiting their physical and mental health,” she said.
Free water bottles to encourage hydration and luxury pamper packs to promote self-care are being handed out at the sessions to parents.
In its third week, participants were already experiencing the benefits.
“We have had one parent who was feeling very stressed and that was giving her a lot of pain in her body. After one session, just stretching and releasing that stress, she came back and told us she is feeling great,” Hannah said.
“We are helping families overall with this program as we want parents to feel better, feel relaxed, and take away new skills they can practice at home. They can go back to their families feeling more patient, more understanding, better able to cope with whatever is happening in life,” she said.
“We are helping families overall with this program as we want parents to feel better, feel relaxed, and take away new skills they can practice at home. They can go back to their families feeling more patient, more understanding, better able to cope with whatever is happening in life.”
Hannah Copland, Morwell Community Facilitator
Partnering with Latrobe Leisure
Latrobe Leisure Renee Jones developed the program with Our Place with the intention of taking feedback and fine-tuning along the way.
Renee says she hopes the program will make a difference in the lives of families.
“Even if they’re drinking a little bit more water every day, or if they’re stopping and doing five minutes of mindfulness or some concentrated breath work or that they value and recognise how important they are and that they deserve and very much need that time to themselves,” Renee said.
“If someone walks away from one session feeling a little bit more uplifted, a little bit happier, a little bit less worried or sad, or whatever the feelings are, then that’s a win,” she said.
“And we’ll take that. So, I sometimes I think we set the bar really high in terms of what we want to achieve, but if we can just bring it back to some basic kind of things I think we all can be reminded of to be honest.
“When the families are nurtured, then the learning environment is better and improved. Hopefully that’s improving the lives at home for those families overall.”
Renee Jones, Latrobe Leisure Fitness Team Leader
Local Mum Sarah Gives Time Out a Go
Morwell parent Sarah attended her first class, hoping to get some time to herself as a break from caring for her two young boys and her partner.
“I’m so busy with the boys, they are completely different personalities. One won’t stop, won’t sit down, wants to play, wants to run around, and jump and everything,” she said.
“I heard about the program as a self-care sort of program and I thought, I’ll try it, see how I go with it and see whether I like it.
“There’s a plan to do a few different things; we’ve done yoga, and there’s a plan to do meditation so that sounds lovely.
“I’ve never done yoga before, and it was really good and easy to do. It’s not my usual sort of thing so it was good to try something different.
“I’m hoping to just really take some time for myself and learning some new techniques that I can adapt to me with my situation, with my limited movement.”
For more information about Time Out sessions for 2024 please contact Hannah Copland at Our Place Morwell: hannah@ourplace.org.au