Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close this weekend. This year’s theme is Take Action, and it’s one that feels close to what we do every day at Mindapples. We all have mental health, and the things we do each day affect it.
The Mental Health Foundation offer us three ways to think about how to Take Action: what can you do for yourself, how can you take action for someone else and how do we take action for all of us. It’s a framework we recognise and one that connects naturally to the way we think about our work.
For you
Since 2008 we’ve been asking people a simple question, “what are the five things you do each day that are good for your mind?”. The answers are often simple and always personal to the individual, they are examples of the everyday things that help people to feel more grounded and more connected to their sense of self. They are often things they hadn’t even noticed they were already doing until they were asked.
It’s in noticing where the action can begin! Our Feed Your Mind session and free tipsheet is a great place to start.
Or you might want to ask yourself the question: What are my mindapples?
For someone else
Most of us want to be there to support the people around us with their mental health but knowing how to start that conversation, how to listen well and how to respond with care can feel daunting without the right knowledge and tools.
Our Champions Training course gives people the understanding, skills and confidence to have genuinely helpful and informed conversations about mental health and wellbeing, and importantly to know when to signpost people to other sources of support. We deliver our Champions Training in schools, colleges and universities and participants consistently tell us they feel more confident, comfortable and equipped to support those around them.
“The training session was very powerful. It felt like a safe space to be in where like-minded people had gathered to help others.”
Student Champion Nottingham Trent University
For all of us
Our individual actions and how we support our friends and peers really matter, but they are also part of something larger. At the heart of the Mindapples campaign is one simple question: what do you do that’s good for your mind? We started asking it in 2008 and have gathered hundreds of thousands of answers from people all around the world since then. The answers are always different and personal, and always a reminder that there is no single right way to look after your mind.
Since then we have been working to shift the culture around mental health, to make talking about and taking care of our minds a normal, every practice rather than something we only think about when we’re in crisis. We do this by helping to create a shared language in which we can talk about mental health and wellbeing, supporting communities across the country to have open conversations, and helping schools, colleges and universities to put wellbeing at the centre of how they work.
Our 50 ways to take care of your mind campaign is part of that.
You can find out more about our campaign and charity work here.
What action will you take this weekend?
Mental Health Awareness Week ends on Sunday, but the question it asks is worth thinking about.
What does action look like for you, for the people around you, and for the communities you are part of?
We would love to hear from you!
Get in touch at hello@mindapples.org