Celebrating 5 years of Be Well: our journey in supporting resident wellbeing

In her blog, Lauren Smith, our Resident Wellbeing Lead talks about how Be Well started as a way to help residents take care of their wellbeing and how it has grown along the way. 

Five years ago, we embarked on a journey to create something special for our residents, a dedicated space for health and happiness, right at their fingertips. Now, as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Be Well, our online wellbeing service, I feel an immense sense of pride for what we've achieved together.

Since its launch, Be Well has grown into a fantastic service. We started with the simple goal of providing resources that empower residents to take charge of their wellbeing. 

Be Well started as one service and has grown ever since

Be Connected was our first service, launched during the pandemic to bring residents together through Virtual Coffee Mornings. These popular sessions offered a space to share stories, offer support, and enjoy a friendly chat from home. Since then, Be Connected has grown to include initiatives like a Pen Pal scheme, Virtual Book Club, befriending partnerships, and a big quiz night.

Building on this success, we launched Be Active with the support of Anchor resident and former fitness instructor, Terry Keen. Terry helped shape our exercise programme, creating engaging routines and a series of videos now available on our YouTube channel. His passion and commitment have inspired residents to stay active and connected.

There are now 5 different strands of our Be Well service - Be Digital, Be Connected, Be Wise, Be Skilled and Be Active - each designed to support a different aspect of wellbeing.

Bringing residents together

Our virtual activities are helping residents form genuine connections. Barbara and Dorothy, who met during a Virtual Coffee Morning, have since built a real-life friendship, with Dorothy even visiting Barbara at St Catherines Court. From a quick hello in a Be Active session to lasting bonds through our Pen Pal initiative, residents are finding new ways to share experiences and build friendships every day.

Listening to residents and acting on their feedback

The past few years, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, have highlighted the critical importance of mental and physical wellbeing. For many, Be Well became a vital lifeline, a source of comfort, connection, and stability during a challenging time.

We shape our services around what residents tell us they need, and after each session we ask for feedback to see how we can do even better. Recently, many residents shared that mental health support was important to them, so we’ve added simple tools like breathing techniques and now point people towards trusted external organisations for extra help when needed.

What we have planned for the future of Be Well

As we look to the future, we're more committed than ever to building on this foundation. Our goal is to continue delivering and expanding the Be Well service to ensure it remains a valuable and accessible resource for our residents. We’re excited to introduce new features, more engaging content, and continued support that truly makes a difference in our residents' lives. 

I'm really pleased to share our new partnership with Versus Arthritis as part of our Be Active programme. We will be working with Versus Arthritis to deliver training with colleagues and raising awareness to better support residents living in our locations with arthritis. Supporting resources and information will be available to residents and will also be hosting a special resident virtual coffee morning in January.

Thank you to every resident who has participated, shared feedback, and made Be Well the success it is today. This service is for you, and your engagement is what makes our community so special.

To find out more about our Be Well service, click here.

Lauren Smith is Resident Wellbeing Lead at Anchor.