Our aim at Riverdale is to help you return to the best life you can have. To that end we have a range of structured activities available throughout the week. We will give you the opportunity to work in 1:1 therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Body Image Therapy or with family members in Family Therapy. We will encourage
you to attend a range of group based programmes such as our Goal Setting group, the Self-compassion group, the Healthy Ways With Food Group, and the WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) group.
Depending on your physical wellbeing we may prescribe a sedentary activity programme in your initial weeks in the hospital. Please don’t be alarmed, this is purposeful. This will be monitored and reviewed by your clinical team and is only for those people whose physical health needs dictate this treatment. We offer help with various skills you may wish to develop or to improve. This may be your ability to cook a wider variety of foods for yourself, be able to travel by public
transport without anxiety, or eat and drink in public places, cafes or restaurants. You may want help with budgeting, looking for work, finding vocational activity, or
applying for education or training.
We will encourage you to engage in a range of recreational activities facilitated by hospital staff such as a photography group, craft sessions, support to experiment with using exercise or sport for pleasure, using Movement & Meditation classes and other holistic therapies. We will also encourage you to develop your confidence to
independently pursue meaningful and recreational activity which enables you to enjoy new or existing interests to support you to stay well once you leave Riverdale.
Your weekly programme is likely to include a mix of intense activity and prescribed periods of rest and reflection negotiated and planned with your clinical team, based on your clinical needs.
Please see below for an example of the timetable of activities available throughout a typical week at Riverdale.
