What is the South Eastern Trust Recovery College?

Where is the South Eastern Trust Recovery College?

The South Eastern Trust Recovery College uses venues across the trust area in Ards & North Down, Lisburn and Downpatrick.

Currently due to Covid-19 most of our courses are being run via Zoom, but we do hope to get some face-to-face courses started again soon.

We currently have an administration office on the 2^nd floor of Lough House in Ards Community Hospital where some courses in the future may run, alongside other venues.

How can I get involved in the South Eastern Trust Recovery College?

We operate like a regular college and publish a time-table for each semester. You can sign up for any course that takes your fancy. 

You can find out more by:

-Visiting our Facebook page South Eastern Trust Recovery College

-Emailing recovery.college@setrust.hscni.net 

-Giving us a call on 02890413872

What kind of skills could I learn and what are your different projects/courses?

We run lots of different courses aimed at improving mental health and well-being. We cover topics such as managing anxiety and understanding depression. There are courses that we offer where you can gain skills such as an Introduction to Mindfulness, Building Resilience and Assertiveness.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the design and delivery of courses or in helping shape mental health services, we run courses such as Building Skills for Co-production, Peer Advocacy and Train the Trainer. Some of these courses are accredited by OCN.

We also run licensed courses such as WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan), The Decider and Positive Steps. 

What kind of experience can I expect?

We hope you will have a very positive experience. We consider ourselves to be friendly and welcoming. It can be hard to join something new and we will do our very best to put you at ease. If it helps to chat to a tutor before a course, we are very happy to do that.

All our courses are designed in combination with those who work in mental health (learned experience) and those who have experienced mental health difficulties (lived experience). At least one tutor on every course will have lived experience of the topic or subject of the course. We think this mix of lived and learned experience is what makes our courses stand out from the crowd. Not only do you get a chance to learn new skills and strategies, but you also get to hear how tutors have used those skills and strategies in real life situations.

Who are your courses available for and do you have any joining criteria?

Our courses are open to all adults aged 18 or over and are open to everyone, whether you’re experiencing a mental health difficulty yourself, you’re caring for someone with a mental health difficulty, you work in mental health or you’re just interested in learning more. You don’t need to live in the South Eastern Trust area to take part in a course, although if our courses are over-subscribed, we will give first priority to those living in the area.

If I wanted to join a course, would I have to pay?

Nope! All our courses are completely free of charge.

How long does each of your projects run for?

It depends. Some of our courses are just for one session and others run for five or six sessions.

We have three terms each year and we also run a few courses as part of our summer school each year.

How do I sign-up?

You can find our current timetable on our Facebook page or you can email the college and ask us to send it to you. If you want, we can add you to our mailing list and then you will always be kept updated about what is happening.

When you see a course you’re interested in, you can sign up by clicking the registration link (for Zoom courses) or you can phone or email us.

Are there any waitlists?

For courses on Zoom, there’s no limit to how many can attend. For face-to-face classes, we usually try to cap numbers at about 15 students, but this can vary depending on the venue we’re using. If the course you’re interested in is oversubscribed, we will add you a waiting list and let you know if a space becomes available. If we can’t offer you a space on a course, you will be given priority the next time we run the course. But don’t worry there are always plenty of courses to choose from.

As we have a large number of courses in our prospectus, it’s not possible to run every course each semester. If the course you’re interested in isn’t running, we will offer to add you to an expression of interest list. These expressions of interest help us decide what to include on our next timetable.

*Please note: due to current Covid-19 restrictions face to face classes are very limited and will comply with all social distancing guidelines so numbers will be reduced*

Once I register my interest how soon will I hear back?

We aim to be in touch as soon as possible. If you register for a Zoom course, you’ll get an immediate email response confirming your registration. If you contact us by email or leave a voice message (we aren’t always able to answer our phone) we will get back to you within a couple of days.