It’s fair to say that “mental health” is more talked about today than it was a few decades ago and that’s partly due to events like Mental Health Awareness Week, the first of which was held in 2001, launched by the Mental Health Foundation.
We all have innate mental health, but the challenge arises when this gets disrupted, and we get stuck in that disrupted state. Despite awareness events, the topic of mental health can often remain a taboo one, with the charity Mind estimating that around 20 million adults in the UK never speak about theirs. This is why we’ve collected some Mental Health Awareness Week ideas below, so you can get involved if you wish.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “mental health” as: “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.” Naming mental health as a basic human right, WHO notes how it’s a key part of health and wellbeing that underpins our relationship-building and decision-making abilities.
Interestingly, the organisation states that: “Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.”
What is Mental Health Awareness Week?
Mental Health Awareness Week brings recognition, knowledge, and large-scale action. Dubbed “the world’s biggest mental health campaign”, this year it falls on 15th-21st May and the theme is ‘anxiety’. Notably, other charities and organisations get involved but focus on other themes, such as Mind, who are highlighting the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on people’s mental health.
Why are Mental Health Week activities important?
Mental health conditions are often used to describe mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities, plus, other mental states linked with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm. Mind estimates that 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.
Topically, almost 8 in 10 respondents to a survey of over 5,200 UK people commissioned by Mind said the cost-of-living crisis had affected their mental health, with impact worsening for those already living with mental health conditions.
What’s more, there are multiple situations where our mental health can impact our physical health. For instance, stress can reshape the make-up of our gut microbiome with negative consequences.
Mental Health Week activities and events facilitate openness, acceptance, and the chance for those living with disruptions to their mental health to feel less isolated. They also provide the opportunity for everyone to talk about their feelings – an effective preventative measure, even for those who consider themselves to have good mental health.
Mental Health Awareness Week ideas and events
There are a variety of ways to get involved with Mental Health Week activities, the below are just a few examples from various organisations.
- Grab your green clothes and organise a quiz or scavenger hunt for your workplace, school or community for the Mental Health Foundation’s Wear It Green Day on Thursday 18th May. Doing so can help raise money for research and community programmes. You can download resources to kickstart your event planning and, since every day is ideal to support positive mental health, you can arrange a fundraiser for whenever is convenient.
- Jump…10,000 feet! If you want to get in touch with your adventurous side and the exhilarating adrenaline rush of falling 100mph appeals to you, the Mental Health Foundation are offering 50% off when you sign up to skydive in May so registration costs £35. They then ask that you raise £395 for their organisation. You can sky dive for them at any time of year and doing so can be an amazing confidence boost.
- Design and display Mental Awareness Week themed posters around your school, workplace or community. Mind offer some free downloadable social media posts and posters, including one you can edit yourself to tailor to events you’re holding and a Zoom background. Creating posters can be a fun one to get kids involved in and they can spark important conversations.
- Attend free related film screenings, talks or lectures in an area near you. Searching for ‘Mental Health Awareness Week events’ with your town name on Eventbrite, search engines or social media should yield a variety of results. These types of events can be thought-provoking, inspire discussions, particularly if you bring older children along, and can help you gain a different perspective on mental health.
- Practice yoga, mindfulness and wellness walking. These aren’t just Mental Health Week activities, but things you can do all year round, alone or with others – after all, WHO lists mindfulness, which is a way to be fully engaged and present in the moment, and exercise as ways some people find keep them mentally well. Yoga, on the other hand, can be done at home with an online video or as part of a class and may reduce stress, depression and anxiety, as well as improve sleep.
We’ve put together some effective exercises for releasing stress and tension in your body that you might like to explore.
If you find you’ve been struggling with mental health and it’s affecting your daily life, please contact your GP and consider reaching out to the Samaritans by calling 116 123, or by emailing [email protected] – where there’s always someone you can talk to, who’ll listen and be able to help.
For more information and practical tips on maintaining good mental health, check out the Happiness section of the free Evergreen Life app, which meets you where you’re at and helps you pinpoint changes relevant to you to further support your physical and mental wellness.
Reviewed by:
Anna Keeble MA BA Head of Content and Wellbeing Expert
Dr Brian Fisher MBBch MBE MSc FRSA – Clinical Director
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