It's Mental Health Awareness Week!
Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) starts today (9 – 15 May 2022) and this year’s theme is loneliness.
MHAW is an annual event providing an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. Across the country, people will be reflecting on loneliness and how it impacts our mental health. Long-term loneliness is intricately linked to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
Why loneliness?
Loneliness is a normal part of life, with most of us feeling lonely at some point and experiencing how it can gnaw away at our sense of self-worth and belonging.
Loneliness is not about the number of friends we have, the time we spend on our own or something that happens when we reach a certain age. Loneliness is the feeling we experience when there is a mismatch between the social connections we have and those that we need or want. That means it can be different for all of us.
Read some tops tips from the Mental Health Foundation about how we can tackle loneliness together.
The week is also a chance to talk about any aspect of mental health that people want to – regardless of the theme.
Accord is proud to support Mental Health Awareness Week. Here’s how you can too…
Get involved
There are lots of ways that you can get involved with Mental Health Awareness Week:
- Get social - download the social media graphics and share with your friends and family online - use the hashtags #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #IveBeenThere
- Share your experiences - use the hashtag #IveBeenThere to share experiences of loneliness to support others and give the campaign momentum
- Connect - call a friend that you haven’t spoken to for a while, tell a family member how much you appreciate them or arrange a meet up outdoors
- Take action, get active - sign up to walk, run or job as part of our 80 Miles in May challenge and share your photos using #80MilesinMay and #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.
For more ways to get involved and show your support during the week, check out the resources available on the Mental Health Foundation website.
Loneliness & social wellbeing webinar
On Friday 11th June 2021, we teamed up with the Bank Workers Charity for a webinar exploring social wellbeing and the impact of loneliness at work. The session covered:
- Why social wellbeing is important
- How loneliness affects us and how this has increased during the pandemic
- Loneliness in the workplace
- Steps we can take to combat loneliness
The recording of the webinar is available to watch.
Mental health at work
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on our mental health. Many of us may feel concerned or anxious, having less control over how we work and live our lives.
Good mental health at work and good management go hand in hand and there is strong evidence that workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are more productive. Addressing wellbeing at work increases productivity by as much as 12%.
Below are some useful online resources available for supporting positive mental health at work:
- Download a copy of the ‘Support mental health at work’ guide, produced by The Mental Health Foundation, which covers how to manage your own mental health at work, how to reach out to a colleague in distress and how you can work with others to make your workplace more mentally healthy for everyone.
- Check out the Mental Health at Work website - it's got all the resources, tools, advice and recommendations you'll need to help support mental health in the workplace.
- Acas has published some really helpful information and tips on looking after mental health for individuals, managers and employers.
- If you’re an Accord rep, check out the TUC’s ‘Mental health and the workplace’ digital workbook.
- Download and share the Bank Workers Charity’s 'making mindful moments' calendar with your colleagues – packed with daily actions to help you look after and improve your mental health and wellbeing.
- The BWC has also produced a workplace wellbeing pack which includes guides and how-to articles, interactive tools and apps, infographics and social media cards, personal stories and much more.
Good mental health at work and good management go hand in hand and there is strong evidence that workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are more productive.
Available support
- LBG’s Employee Assistance Programme (Validium): 0800 9700 100
- TSB's Employee Assistance Programme: 0800 0856 348
- Mind mental health charity: https://www.mind.org.uk/
- Bank Workers Charity: 0800 0234 834 — https://www.bwcharity.org.uk/
- Samaritans: 116 123 — https://www.samaritans.org/
- NHS 'Every mind matters': https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
- NHS (including 111): https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/
At Accord, all of our team of advisors have been accredited in Mental Health First Aid by MHFA England.
If you’re an Accord member and need a chat about support at work, call our helpline on 0118 934 1808.
Accord's ED&I Group
The Accord Equality Diversity & Inclusion group’s aim is to maximise our members' potential, regardless of background, and ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect. It’s a place where diversity is celebrated, without prejudice or judgement. It’s a chance to collectively learn from our experiences and enrich all our lives.
The group get involved in a broad spectrum of events across the year. If you’re interested, why not get involved — email us at [email protected] or register to join online.
