Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event organised and hosted by The Mental Health Foundation, the UK’s leading charity for mental health.
Around 1 in 4 people suffer from mental health illnesses in their lifetime. This can be for any number of reasons including; anxiety, personality disorder, eating disorder, PTSD and many more. Many people live their lives trying to hide these often taboo issues, often never getting diagnosed and suffering alone. Mental health awareness week is just one of the ways we can encourage people to talk to each other and offer support. We do not need to go through it alone.
This year the focus point is loneliness. This is a subject very close to our hearts here at Lapis. Many of the clients we care for do not have anyone else other than our visits, this is why we focus on spending time with our clients and getting to know them, just knowing they have someone to talk to can make all the difference. Lapis are currently re launching our day centre services as a key way for people to feel connected again and something to look forward to each week.
For more information on our day services please see: https://www.lapiscare.com/young-at-heart
Although we care mostly for elderly, loneliness can affect any of us at any age. Since the pandemic we have all experienced how hard it can be for ourselves and for others to be unable to reach loved ones and feel isolated. If it has taught us anything, we understand now that communication is a key part of living. Connecting with people can change lives, uplift our mood and bring a sense of togetherness. This ethos is reflected day in day out as a carer at Lapis Care and we want this notion to continue throughout your communities.
Here are some easy ideas for how you can help with Mental Health Awareness and tackle loneliness:
Get connecting! Reach out to people, whether its friends, family, colleagues, neighbours.
Raise awareness around mental health, whether via word of mouth, social media or your own fundraising events. Ask your local community, social group, work place etc to raise awareness and engage with these issues, the more we talk together about mental health the more we can help.
Become a Volunteer. Use some of your free time with local charities, for example ‘Clic’ an online & telephone service used for people who need someone to reach out to.
Please see links below for more information about Mental Health awareness and where to find help and advice if you or somebody you know might need this.
You are not alone.
· https://mentalhealth-uk.org/help-and-information/
· https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/social-care-and-your-rights/how-to-access-mental-health-services/
· https://clic-uk.org/
