Past themes of Mental Health Awareness Week have included focus on mindfulness, anxiety, sleep deprivation, and the effect of exercise on mental health.
Mark Rowland, director of fundraising and communication for the Mental Health Foundation explains the theme in more detail:
“Too many of us accept that experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety are the price we pay to keep our lives on track. Working hours blur into leisure time and the rise of social media changes the way we interact with friends, families and our communities.
During the week we will be celebrating good mental health as an asset that helps us to thrive. This is not just the absence of a mental health problem, but having the ability to think, feel and act in a way that allows us to enjoy life and deal with its challenges.”
In support of the week the Mental Health Foundation has organised a ‘Thunderclap’ (a coordinated social media post over Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter) that is estimated to reach close to 5 million people.
Statistics provided by the Mental Health Foundation say the 1 in 7 working people suffer from a mental health issue. Apparently over 8 billion pounds could be saved if there were better mental health services available in the work place.
Official events will be happening across the country. You can find one happening near you using this official tracker. You can also have your own event placed on the tracker through the same link.
SHP will be publishing more articles this week on mental health in support of the event. Until then, make sure you download our Mental Health Factsheet.
For more information about the event and how you can get involved with Mental Health Awareness Week, follow this link to the Mental Health Foundation information page.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
