Mental Health Awareness Week 10th – 16th May 2021

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” — Gary Snyder

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”—John Burroughs

Mental health awareness week runs from 10^th– 16^th of May. 

This year, the theme for the week is ‘Nature’. Across the country, people will be celebrating the mental health benefits of being around nature in their local community in a range of digital and creative ways. Mark Rowland Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said: “Mental Health Awareness Week has grown to be one of the biggest awareness weeks in the UK. This year the theme is on nature and its central role for our mental health.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, millions of us turned to nature to help us get through lockdowns and our research shows that good mental health depends on us being able to connect with nature in some way and its power in both prevention of and recovery from poor mental health.“

The year 2020 did not go as we all had planned. With the numerous lockdowns, restrictions and questioning of what was happening and when it would all be over has had a major impact on people’s mental health. The pandemic has challenged all of us as individuals, families and businesses and many of us have experienced significantly higher levels of anxiety, stress and isolation. It is therefore important that employers can provide the greater level of support to employees than before when it comes to mental health.

An essential building block for workplace mental health is the ability to have open and authentic conversations about mental health in the workplace, both individually and on a strategic level. This is more important than ever as we recover from the impact of the pandemic.

At Machins we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our staff. This year with have formed a Mental Health Awareness committee to help promote physical and mental wellbeing. Throughout the week the committee will be hosting a number of wellbeing and mindfulness activities for staff. We have organised a mindfulness webinar, opened up a forum which will allow staff to discuss mental health and any issues they may be facing and we will also sending a daily mindfulness activity for staff to take part in. At Machins we want to support our staff throughout this unusual time. We understand the importance of each everyone being able to take the time to connect with nature to support their mental health and wellbeing.

For more information and resources to help get you closer to nature this week visit https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week.