SALT health and wellbeing webinars: strategies for coping with life in isolation

In the weeks since the coronavirus emerged, our lives have been disrupted in unimaginable ways.

With no sport to take up our energies, focus and time, many are struggling with finding ways to deal with this new reality.

Dave Burt, founder of not-for-profit health promotion organisation SALT (Sport and Life Training), says that for many people, prolonged isolation may trigger negative feelings and emotions, especially against the unprecedented backdrop of uncertainty.

No longer able to work face-to-face with sporting groups due to distancing rules, Dave and his team are instead offering a series of free live ‘SALT Lunchbox’ webinars as a way of staying connected during this time of isolation.

The online SALT Lunchbox sessions are held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1pm, with each running for approximately 30 minutes.

The sessions provide guidance on the coping mechanisms needed to deal with the challenges of social isolation, changing family dynamics, self-care and many more unforeseen situations that the current pandemic has thrown up.

“In this time of confinement, many of us are going to be challenged in our relationships. Behaviours that you might normally overlook will be magnified,” says Dave.

“We are excited by the opportunity to bring these live sessions to people because we have a unique crisis occurring that requires a unique response. Over the time of this coronavirus challenge, our aim is to bring some positivity into each day. These sessions will focus on practical ways that you can help yourself, and those who you love and care for. Our two major purposes are to inspire and connect,” he said.

SALT, a member of Maroondah-based Communities of Wellbeing, are students of the collective framework of enhancing wellbeing derived from the science of Positive Psychology.

“In practice, this means that we deliver messages that equip people with skills, processes and a common language to build the wellbeing of themselves and those they love and care for,” says Dave.

Those tuning into the Lunchbox webinars will be able to engage in live Q&As with experts on topics such as emotional agility, resilient thinking, overcoming stress and anxiety, having children home 24/7, maintaining friendships, and many more.

For people unable to tune into the live sessions, recorded versions of the webinars are available to watch at their own convenience, whether alone or together as a family.

“So far the feedback has been really strong, and our online community is growing and contributing in the way we hoped and expected they would,” adds Dave.

“We’ll have a range of different experts and guests joining our team for different topics. We’re also going to interview people about their own lived experience when we think that the stories might inspire others,” he said.

Dave says the sessions are also about embracing feelings of adversity, so that we can come through the other side of this crisis feeling far more united than divided, far more energised than depleted, and far more loving and enlightened.

SALT are the leading providers of interactive sports-based education, culture and leadership training.

Established in Maroondah in 2015, the organisation has since delivered around 1800 interactive presentations to hundreds of sporting clubs, schools and businesses across the state working in the areas of mental health, respect and equality, leadership and culture.

SALT will be based out of the soon-to-be completed HE Parker Sporting Pavilion located at HE Parker Reserve, Heathmont, in an exciting partnership forged between Maroondah City Council, SALT, and other local sporting clubs.

The sporting pavilion is scheduled for completion in May 2020, and sporting groups can expect to start using the facility following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

The SALT webinar sessions are being delivered with the support of Maroondah City Council and in partnership with sponsors Bendigo Bank, Eastland and FC Business Solutions.

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