Brent is the home of Wembley National Stadium – one of the world’s most iconic venues, which will host the UEFA football competition next year. And next year Brent will be the London Borough of Culture.
With such world-class places on our doorstep and so many exciting events on the horizon, you would think that Brent residents are the most satisfied and happiest.
Well, I’m sure they feel pretty good about themselves most of the time, but it’s not just because of the Stadium. If you’re wondering why, let me explain…On my committee, we looked at the issue of emotional health and wellbeing and found that how we cope with significant life events such as the death of a loved one, or manage our day-to-day mood, feelings, relationships, and self-esteem are fundamental to our feelings of wellbeing.
Also feelings of happiness, contentment, enjoyment, curiosity and engagement are qualities of someone who has a positive experience of their life. Equally important for wellbeing is our functioning in the world. Experiencing positive relationships, having some control over one’s life and a sense of purpose are important too. The challenges of good emotional health and wellbeing are different at different stages of our lives, and what we do or don’t do can make us feel better or worse.
Brent embraced the New Economics Foundation’s approach called ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ which are the five actions we can all do in our daily lives to help us feel better. They are: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give.
Firstly, it means connecting with the people around you such as family, friends and neighbours or it could be getting active by going for a walk or run, cycling, playing a board game or gardening.
By taking notice, it means being curious or appreciating what is beautiful in nature such as a sunset or the changing seasons. Keep learning is about taking up an evening course or learning a language at home.
Finally, the action of giving is about volunteering or doing something for others – even just a little act of kindness such as holding the door open for a stranger.
But in Brent, my colleagues in Public Health have added another one – create – so now we call it the 5+1 ways to wellbeing. Creating is about the satisfaction of completing something: For example, knitting or finishing off a puzzle.
So, while in the Brent we are proud of world-class venues, we don’t have to visit them to improve our emotional wellbeing although I accept that watching a fantastic England game will certainly help.
In short, we usually have what we need around us and they can be quite simple steps to better our emotional wellbeing.
