Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

This week, 10 to 16 May 2021, is Mental Health Awareness Week, and as we ease out of lockdown, it has never felt more relevant. We all have mental health, and, like our physical health, we need to take care of it. This year’s theme is “Connecting with Nature” and the benefits of nature in our mental and physical health.

We sat down with our HR Manager and Mental Health First Aider, Jen, to discuss this essential time. 

“It’s not always easy to get out into nature, but it is so good for us to do so here’s a few top tips for how you can connect to nature and get the benefits.

1. Find Nature wherever you are – it is all around us, stop and listen to a bird song or watch the wind in the trees or even the rain on the windowpane!
2. Connect with all your senses – try listening with your eyes closed or look for small details like a bee in the flowers or the shape of the clouds.
3. Get out into nature – even just 5 minutes sitting in the garden at lunch will really help boost your mood and your vitamin D levels.
4. Bring nature to you – if you cannot get out in it why not bring it into you, even a pot herb or cactus can help.
5. Exercise in nature – try to go outside for exercise, either a walk, a cycle or even a run can help prevent or reduce negative feelings. Why not ask a colleague to go for a walk at lunchtime?
6. Combine nature with creativity – try taking a photo of a nice scene or the sunset.
7. Protect nature – looking after something is a really good way to help your mental health, it can be as simple as recycling rather than just throwing in the normal bin or planting some seeds and watching them grow.

These are just some ideas from the Mental Health Foundation, but the important message is that Mental Health Matters and we need to look after it in whatever way makes us feel good.

As a Mental Health First Aider, I think it’s really important to promote mental health awareness and to take steps to look after those around us as well as ourselves to ensure that we maintain a healthy mind and encourage those interested to take a look at the following link to see if you would like to become a MHFA too https://mhfaengland.org/ “

Life Environmental believe talking is always good for mental health and use our weekly Life Around the Kettle meetings to forget about work for a minute a simply have a chat. It is a friendly informal space to talk about whatever comes up, there is no agenda and no pressure to speak or even to show your face, sometimes just listening helps people too.

Below are a few links for those who are struggling, or would just like to understand more about Mental Health:

Your mental health | Mental Health Foundation - https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/your-mental-health
Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen - https://www.samaritans.org/
We are Rethink Mental Illness https://www.rethink.org/
Home | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems https://www.mind.org.uk/
Mental health - NHS (www.nhs.uk) - https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/

Look after yourselves, get talking and look for nature where you can!