This year, the UK’s Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from 10th-16th May. The Mental Health Foundation set up the event over 20 years ago and it has now become one of the largest awareness weeks in the UK. Each year a theme is chosen; this year the theme is Nature.
Nature: all the animals, plants, rocks, etc. in the world and all the features, forces, and processes that happen or exist independently of people, such as the weather, the sea, mountains, the production of young animals or plants, and growth.
During the pandemic, many turned to nature as a way of coping and maintaining mental health. As life slowed down, our green spaces became a way for us to reconnect with nature and, when safe, reconnect with each other. But not everyone was lucky enough to have readily available access. Whilst the Mental Health Foundation understand that nature is not the only aspect of people’s lives that can help well-being, research shows it can help some, and they want to raise awareness and encourage the Government to consider nature to be an essential, not a luxury.
Mental Health Awareness Week aims to encourage people to start a conversation about mental health, maintaining good mental health, and aspects of our lives which can affect this. We all experience highs and lows, dealing with crisis and challenges in both personal life and in the workplace, but research shows that having a supportive network in all environments of life is beneficial to help main good mental well-being. Check out the MHF’s free guides and tips to help ourselves, family, friends and colleagues here.
So this week, take some time out or go for a walk and take in nature, the bird song or the wind through the trees. It’s also National Donut Week, so why not buy some donuts from participating bakers, where the money raised goes to The Children’s Trust, (the UK’s leading charity for children with brain injury), grab the team, and sit in the park.
Working in the landscape industry we are lucky to play out part in nurturing little areas of nature, be within nature, but ask yourself this week, do we stop and take a moment to notice it or are we just getting on with the job?
