Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is an annual event when there is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health.
The Mental Health Foundation started the event 21 years ago. Each year the Foundation continues to set the theme, organize and host the week. The event has grown to become one of the biggest awareness weeks across the UK and globally.
Loneliness
The theme for 2022 was Loneliness. Loneliness is affecting more and more people in the UK and has had a huge impact on their physical and mental health during the pandemic.
People's connection to other people and the community is fundamental to protecting their mental health and Coopers need to find better ways of tackling the epidemic of loneliness. Everyone can play a part in this. Reducing loneliness is a major step towards a mentally healthy society.
Linking loneliness to mental health
Some research suggests that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of certain mental health problems
Feeling lonely isn’t in itself a mental health problem, but the two are strongly linked. Having a mental health problem can increase the chance of feeling lonely. Feeling lonely can also hurt mental health, especially if these feelings have lasted a long time.
Some research suggests that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of certain mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, sleep problems, and increased stress.
Ways to encourage people to go outside
Studies have found that getting outside and enjoying nature can reduce feelings of loneliness. To encourage everyone to get outside Coopers ran its second Nature photography competition. They had some great entries covering a broad range of content.
There was a whole herd of animal pictures from caterpillars to horses and everything in between as well as plenty of picturesque landscapes.
Winners of Nature photography
The winning photograph was taken by Piotr from Coopers' purchasing department. Abby from the Commercial team and Ron from production, taking second and third place, respectively.
On 13 May, MHAW staff at Ignis House joined in ‘wear it green day’ in support of The Mental Health Foundation and raised £200. Thank you and well done to everyone involved.
