Eating Disorders Support Group Aberdeen
One of our group members valiantly ran the Baxter’s River Ness 10K race in September, raising £100 for NEEDS(Scotland). We are very appreciative of her time training and running this race and her efforts fundraising on our behalf. Thank you so much Lauren, and very well done!
Neil Gibson is senior lecturer and course leader for the BA (Hons) Social Work course at Robert Gordon University. He has been researching the therapeutic use of photography in social care settings as part of his PhD submission. His social work experience includes working in residential childcare, substance use, criminal justice, care management and adult protection.
*sharing time will go ahead as usual after the presentation
“Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.” – Bruno Barbey
Rosemount Community Centre Belgrave Terrace Aberdeen AB25 2NS
Francine Dulong is an interdisciplinary performing artist who hails from Nova Scotia, Canada. She recently completed an MA with distinction in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, holds a Double Major in Theatre and French from the University of British Columbia, and has a background in physical theatre and art education (International School of Jacques Lecoq). Francine is passionate about the exploration of positive body image and gender equality in our current society. Working with Body Gossip and all the young people involved with the Performance Project is both a daily source of inspiration and a life changing opportunity. When she is not facilitating and designing educative adventures for Body Gossip, she is working for her participatory environmental theatre company, Blooming Ludus. You can see her portfolio here: francinedulong.weebly.com
Eveline Nicolette is a Body Oriented Psychotherapist who integrates body-mind approaches to creatively help people step into their lives more fully. In this work, she draws on trainings in Dance Movement Psychotherapy, trauma treatment models, meditation, the arts, and her personal life experience. Currently, her practice includes individual and group work with children, young people, adults and families.
Eveline has a particular interest in working with people with eating issues. An important aspect of this is collaborating with a person to find the body-mind tools that help make a positive difference to how they feel and cope with life.
In The Feel Good Factor taster session, Eveline’s warm and easy-going manner will invite you to get creative with others and have fun through movement, music and art. Come and play with possibilities and discover what the Feel Good Factor is for you!
Generously funded by Robert Gordon YPI
This was a new venture for us suggested by one of our volunteers, and brought into life with funding awards from Aberdeen University Raising and Giving Campaign and also the Youth Philanthropy Initiative. It was held at Cafe Coast, which is a super venue for such an event, with a bright and airy room for both presentations and workshops.
The day began with a Mindfulness session where Louise Martin introduced the concept and led us through some exercises to focus our thoughts. The key is to accept that the mind will wander, but that you can bring it back to focus at any time.
After a short coffee break Morgan Windram introduced us to yoga and some exercises which could be done at any level. The focus was again on breathing which followed on from our Mindfulness session. The stretches were easily adaptable and felt very good. By this point we were all feeling totally relaxed and enjoyed a light lunch and chat with the speakers and also the 5 therapists who were joining us for the afternoon.
Using two extra rooms at Cafe Coast, we were able to offer 30 minute sessions of various complimentary therapies and also a file and polish. Among therapies offered were aromatherapy massage, deep tissue massage, reiki, shiatsu, reflexology, hand/foot massage and indian head massage.
Alongside these treatments were two taster sessions of Movement as Therapy, which was a new concept to us all. Eveline Nicolette gave us all a short introduction to the concept and then we experienced it for ourselves. The workshop was called The Feel Good Factor, and I definitely think it gave us exactly that, judging by the smiles at the end of the day!
The event has been hailed a great success and we hope to make them a regular event if we can secure sufficient funding. The next one is already booked for Saturday 22nd October 2016, so get the date in your diary.
The main presenter will be Francine Dulong from BodyGossip, a charity who take workshops on body image round schools and universities. We are also hoping to have a session on music as therapy and our complimentary therapies available once more. Watch this website for more details!
Many thanks to all involved for an extremely refreshing, informative and most importantly, fun day!
Apologies for only three photos…. too busy chilling out…….!!
Settling in for an introduction to yoga
The session was pitched well for all levels, floor based and chair based.
Finlay decided just to spectate! He’ll maybe do it next time!
Louise Martin
Louise was trained in Mindfulness under the guidance of world renowned experts Rob Nairn and Choden. As part of this training Louise has attended Meditation retreats at Buddhist Centres across Scotland and is in the final year of the Mindfulness Studies Master’s Degree at the University of Aberdeen.
Louise is a fully qualified mindfulness teacher, having completed a PG Cert and Diploma in Mindfulness Studies at the University of Aberdeen and the Mindfulness Associations Teacher Training Programme. Louise now teaches Mindfulness for the University of St Andrews and runs 8-week courses for both individuals and organisations in private and group settings.
After many years working in the field of psychology, Louise was originally drawn to mindfulness not just as a way to manage stress and emotional difficulties but also as a way to live life more fully and happily.
Morgan Windram
Morgan is co-owner and yoga teacher at yogaontay based in Newport on Tay in Fife.
She says, “Yoga taught me how to breathe deep, quiet my mind & listen to my body. Yoga was the final and most crucial step towards my healing from anorexia and excessive exercise.
Today I am a confident, happy and grateful person. I have chosen to follow my dreams rather than the dreams that others have for me. I balance my yoga teaching with parenting my twin daughters. I also remain committed to endurance running as an elite athlete in mountain and ultrarunning. I hope I can teach you how to access your breath, and bring your mind and body back in synch.
Eveline Nicolette
Eveline has many years experience working with body-mind approaches and the arts, supporting people to reconnect with what matters to them. Her warm and easy-going manner invites people to step into their lives more fully and begin to play with possibilities. She says, “Come along and find out what the Feel Good Factor is for you. Life can sometimes drag us down, and it can be hard to get back on track and feel good about ourselves. “
“Getting creative with others and having fun through movement, art and music can wake up and shake up the Feel Good Factor! “
There will also be 20min taster sessions of complimentary therapies available in the afternoon such as hand/foot/shoulder massage, reflexology and aromatherapy, and also simple file and polish for nails available. These will be free of charge, and bookable earlier in the day on a “first come, first served’ basis.
Refreshments and a light lunch will be provided.
For the past year the Rosehill Branch of the TSB have tirelessly and very inventively raised money on behalf of NEEDS(Scotland). This partnership is now at an end and today, Heather was presented with a cheque for £1838.11. This is almost double what the branch was aiming to raise, and we are absolutely delighted.
We can’t thank the Rosehill Branch staff and customers enough for this fantastic achievement. We must also thank Amanda Bain, the former Assistant Manager who has since moved to be manager at the Castle Street branch, and Sam, who is holding the right hand side of the cheque. Sam Mitchell has been the charity co-ordinator and worked very hard to organise events, and has also attended several events which we have organised using monies raised.
We have purchased various items to make the group room more welcoming, and now intend to start an Arts and Crafts group. this money will go a long way to help with venue costs and materials. Thanks again, folks!
On 16th May, two of our volunteers Paul Donald and Alison Lynch went along to Aberdeen University’s Duncan Rice Library to collect this very generous cheque for £2000. This money has been allocated to us by their Raising and Giving Campaign and was presented to them by Holly Bruce, President of Charities and Community.
We are absolutely delighted to accept this amount, which will go towards funding our Wellbeing Day to be held at Cafe Coast on Saturday 3rd September. Thank you so much to all those students who have worked so hard to raise money for so many local charities. It is very much appreciated.
On Saturday 13th February, we held a joint event with our charity sponsors, TSB Rosehill Branch. Three staff members very generously gave up their their time, AFTER their work at the bank to join group members and volunteers at Ceramika for a pottery painting session.
Mel, the proprietor was very welcoming and patiently assisted us with our works of art. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience, finding it very therapeutic. We look forward to seeing our finished pieces, which are a mixture of plaques, dishes and mugs. We hope to hold another event in the near future.
Many thanks to the TSB at Rosehill for making this event possible. Social events such as this are very valuable, getting people out of the house, building confidence and engaging in a fulfilling activity amongst friends.
TSB Rosehill will continue to be our charity sponsors until May, and remain keen to fundraise and be involved with our group when they can. Their next event is an Easter Bake Sale next month. If you are in their area over the Easter period, do pop in and support them. Their baking is highly recommended!
Concentration is all important!
Anticipation grows
Two of the finished works of art ready for glazing and firing!
Four week old Finlay makes his mark with Mel’s help!
Sat 13th February
2 – 4pm
Due to a limited number of spaces available, confirmation of
attendance must be sent to Irene
via our contact form
