Mental Health Awareness Week 2021
Oliver Bliss • May 12, 2021
This week is Mental Health Awareness week. It’s a week dedicated to encouraging people to have genuine conversations about how they are feeling.
This years’ theme is Nature
and there is positive research to support the role that nature can play in supporting our mental health. According to research by Mental Health Foundation, going for walks outside was the top coping strategy for people during the pandemic. 45% of people also reported that being in green spaces had been vital to supporting their mental health.
The Mental Health Foundation has put together a variety of videos, blogs and top tips around how people can connect with nature to benefit their mental health – check them out here
to see how connecting with nature could benefit your mental health.
The NHS' Every Mind Matters resources provide simple practical tips and videos from experts on dealing with COVID-19, stress
and anxiety, boosting your mood, sleeping
better and what you can do to help others. They also have a free Mind Plan
that can get you started and show you some simple step to help improve your mental wellbeing.
Sport and physical activity is another way of supporting your mental wellbeing. With the national restrictions easing, our partner, Get Berkshire Active, have put together a list of resources to help support you in your return to physical activities - discover more here.
Employment is another area that can benefit your mental health. Having a job can improve self-esteem and confidence, while also reducing psychological distress. An article
by The Health Foundation states that unemployment causes stress which can lead to long-term physiological health effects and have negative consequences on people’s mental health. We know this to be true from our own experience of working with people who struggle with their mental health.
If you are struggling with your mental health and wanting to find employment, Ways into Work may be able to support you on your journey to employment. Find out more about how we work with job seekers
and if you are eligible for any of the projects we are commissioned to deliver here.
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Our Journey in Changing Lives One Job at a Time continues in our café, Barista & Beyond
An incredible good news story from one of our clients, who explains how the support from us has changed her life and helped her get her dream job!
When Rajpal first became a client at Ways into Work he had been struggling with looking for work and a good job match. Rajpal has a mild learning disability and mental health issues and had not worked for over ten years except to help now and then at his family’s supermarket. He had not worked for such a long time as he was not well enough to think about his career and life choices. When he joined Ways into Work as a Job Seeker and was assigned an Employment Coach who spent a long time getting to know him, doing a vocational profile and job matching. It was decided that the best first step was for Rajpal was to experience what different jobs and roles are like and what they would entail. Ways into Work then supported him in applying for various roles in retail and did mock interviews where he gained lots of practice. He secured a few interviews but was not offered any of the jobs. Rajpal had begun taking an interest in going to the gym and informed his Employment Coach that he would like a job at the gym. After approaching the employer, his Employment Coach secured an interview for him. He was so happy that at the interview when asked why he would like to work at the gym, he pulled out of his pocket a handwritten lengthy list of reasons why he liked the job and the skills he had to offer. This showed the employer his passion for the job and Rajpal was offered the job, working 3 days (24 hours) a week to begin with. As the leisure centre was 7 miles away, his Employment Coach supported him with applying for Access To Work transport to and from work. They also taught him and his parents how to claim his monthly ATW transport and supported him with the change of circumstances in his benefits. When Rajpal first started to work at the Leisure Centre he solely worked in the gym and his role included ensuring that all the equipment was working and clean, as well as dealing with lots of customer enquiries. This was quite a challenge for Rajpal to begin with, as it was a large premise and no two days were the same. With Job Coaching , Ways into Work was able to support Rajpal by helping to create a routine for him and also discussing with his supervisor a way of building new tasks into his days as the weeks progressed.
