Mental Health Awareness Week 2020
What is Mental Health Awareness Week
Every year the UK recognises Mental Health Awareness Week. It’s the UK’s national week to raise awareness of mental health and the associated problems. Therefore it inspires action to help promote the message of looking after mental health. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic and the way so many lives have changed, this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week has never been more relevant or important. It’s an opportunity to take the time to really think about taking care of ourselves and others.
Kindness Matters
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week was set to be sleep, but because of Coronavirus, it was changed to kindness. However, what does it mean to be kind? And how is it more important than ever to be kind?
Very simply, kindness is taking the time to do something that helps others. Kindness often means putting someone else’s needs before your own. It could be offering to help someone with a problem or just by giving someone your seat on a bus. Research tells us that by helping others, our own mental health and feelings of wellbeing are benefitted. It improves our mood, makes us feel good about ourselves, increases our self-esteem and makes us feel happy.
Lockdown
In lockdown, we see daily acts of kindness, from people helping other people with shopping, to gifts being delivered to strangers. Thousands of people volunteered their time to help the NHS and local communities are rallying around to help more vulnerable people. However, it’s just as important to remember to be kind to ourselves. There is no need to put ourselves under extra pressure, just because we may have more time on our hands.
At Health Connections Patient Transport Service we understand the importance of being kind, both to our clients and to ourselves.