My six-week course focuses on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). I know it works and so do the scientists. I studied this at Oxford University to try to lasso my wild mind. I also wanted to take some action after a bout of depression.With depression alone, for those who've had three or more episodes, MBCT yields a 60% chance of preventing relapse. Frazzled Cafe moved online from Spring 2020. Since then we have a seven-day a week programme and offer three types of meetings almost every day. All of our meetings provide the same safe space to share, talk and listen. We suggest you try each type of meeting, so you can find one that’s right for you. Our different Frazzled Cafe meeting types:

You are welcome to book one Host or Facilitator meeting per day this excludes meetings with Ruby Wax, Mindfulness or Cafe Conversations. Please do not book into more than one meeting a day (aside from the Ruby meeting, Mindfulness or Cafe Conversations), both to make sure that as many people as possible can access our meetings as and when they need them, and so that you have time to properly decompress after each meeting. Frazzled Café meetings are usually held in small groups fortnightly in cities around the UK, hosted by a trained facilitator who makes sure that everyone who wants to speak gets the chance. These groups are now being held online via Zoom, in facilitated groups of about 12 people that mirror the usual meetings. Additionally, Ruby is hosting larger groups of up to 100 people where she shares her experiences and invites others to share theirs. Visit Frazzled Café to find out more and register.

Retailers:

Warm as she is, it’s hard to imagine the slightly manic and frantic persona Wax projects reacting well to the neediness of very young children. ‘I used to go into high panic each time I was left alone with one of my kids when they were babies,’ she says in the book. Does she worry that they will be affected by depression? ‘I think my kids are OK,’ she says, after a moment’s reflection. ‘Often it first shows up in your teens and they seem to have made it through.’ I learned some amazing facts and found out about some amazing groups who I didn’t even know existed covering a wide range of concerns from building inclusive and caring communities, using mindfulness to build compassion, manage anger and improve communication, regenerative agriculture and gardening, through to how do we stop climate change and extinction.

I’ll be eagerly awaiting my printed copy when this is published, there are so many interesting points made here that I would like to bookmark and look into further. The Trust has partnered with MIND in Mid Herts and the local PCN (the Primary Care Network of our 3 GP surgeries) to create a Wellbeing Hub. Its aim is to support Harpenden residents who have concerns about their mental wellbeing at an early stage before they become unwell and need counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy. The inspiration for Frazzled Cafe came from our founder and patron Ruby Wax’s experiences during her best-selling book and theatre tours. Ruby met thousands of people looking to connect and share their stories. Whenever she asked her audience members if they wanted a chance to talk about what was going on for them, they always did. I saw this book at university. And it felt like I should finally get a handle on my far-away mind. This book was sitting on one of those temporarily constructed stands at the library. I probably ruined the spread, loaning it but I felt it could fulfil a deep need. With the right practice, I’m certain mindfulness will deliver.

To let everyone have a voice. Please respect one another by giving everybody the chance to contribute without interruption and by not dominating or disrupting the

After the mindfulness exercise, if you would like to speak, all attendees can unmute themselves and talk about how they are feeling, or to borrow one of Ruby’s expressions, ‘explain what the weather conditions are like in your head’. To treat everyone, including our volunteers, with respect, consideration and kindness. Any threatening or abusive behaviour will not be tolerated and resultAfter a few people have shared, we then breakout into smaller groups, still in Zoom. Here you’ll have the opportunity to talk in a smaller group with up to 8 people. I think, if you have a general interest in how the world is or needs to become more compassionate and "humanised" then this may be a book that you could dip into to get a few examples of what people are doing now. As a record of social history it will work, not least due to the nods to Covid-19 which hit around the time of publication and resulted in a few "additions" to the text. But, I'm sorry, as an uplifting and relatable read in the same compelling vein of Ms Wax's first two books, this just didn't do it for me. The Trust is contributing funding and volunteers to the Hub, helping to connect people with existing groups and activities; funding a MIND outreach project in Harpenden and researching ‘gold standard’ initiatives that might be of benefit to our town’s wellbeing. An in-person Frazzled cafe will be a fantastic addition to our town and will run at Thompson’s Cafe in the center of town.