STAFF at Oxford Brookes University are being encouraged to stick to their new year's resolutions with two weeks of events designed to promote mental wellbeing.

Starting on Monday, the Feel Good Festival will feature sessions to help people find ways to fit in exercise, eat healthily and take time to relax.

Professor Anne-Marie Kilday, Pro Vice-Chancellor for staff experience said: “Supporting the wellbeing of colleagues is very important to us; we want to nurture happy and healthy staff who can give their best to our students and the wider university.

“The Feel Good Festival is a great example of cross-university collaboration and provides an ideal opportunity to take stock of our overall wellbeing, learn some practical new skills and try out activities that we can fit into our daily routines.”

Highlights of this year’s programme include workshops on developing creativity and food foraging, health and lifestyle consultations, lunchtime Latin and ballroom dancing, yoga and pilates classes, meditation for relaxation sessions, craft classes and courses on mindfulness and ‘couch to 5k’ running.

Lectures on positive psychology for wellbeing and success, and dance and its relationship with health, hormones and thinking are also open to the community.

The university's work to help staff was also recognised at last week's Oxfordshire Sports Awards when the university came runner-up in the Active Workplace category for its Brookes Active initiative.

More details at Brookes.ac.uk.