Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 – 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing

May 13th – 19th is Mental Health Awareness Week 2024. To mark the event Clare Billings-Deed our Project Leader for Support Programmes explains more about the 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing.

When we talk about mental HEALTH – we’re not just talking about the absence of illness, and in fact even people diagnosed with a mental illness can enjoy good mental health! We know that maintaining good mental health can be really challenging for Family Carers.

The 2022 State of Caring report from Carer’s UK found that: “Many carers are struggling with poor mental and physical health. A fifth said their physical health was bad or very bad (21%) and 30% said their mental health was bad or very bad. Over a quarter of carers (29%) said they felt lonely often or always. Although carers are providing many hours of support to the person they care for, few are taking a break from caring, resulting in tiredness and, in some cases, exhaustion and burn-out. 41% of carers haven’t taken a break from their caring role in the last year. Many carers would like to do more physical activity, to improve their health, but simply don’t have the time to do so. Nearly half of carers (45%) said they had been less active in the last six months, which may be due to increased anxiety and stress as a result of the cost-of-living crisis”

Connect with other people

Good relationships can:

• Help to build a sense of belonging and self-worth
• Give an opportunity to share positive experiences
• Provide emotional support for ourselves and others

There are lots of ways to and expand your relationships and connections:

• Take time regularly to be with your family, for example, try arranging a fixed time to eat together if not every day perhaps once a week
• Arrange a catch-up coffee or lunch with friends you have not seen for a while
• Try switching off the TV to talk or play a game with your children, friends or family
• If you’re working , share your lunch-break with a colleague
• Volunteer with Suffolk Family Carers or at a local school, hospital or community group.
• Make the most of technology to stay in touch with friends and family. Video-chat apps like Skype and FaceTime are useful, especially if you live far apart
• Join a leisure learning course or interest group

Be physically active

Moving our bodies is not only great for your physical health, evidence shows it can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

• Raising your self-esteem
• Helping to set goals or challenges and achieve them
• Causing chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood

Any kind of movement is better than none and will bring benefits for your mental health. You don’t have to spend hours in a gym or run marathons! Find activities you enjoy and make them a part of your life – there are lots of online exercise videos or explore the opportunities in your local community – whether it be wellbeing walks or chair yoga in the local community centre

Learn new skills

Research shows that learning new skills can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

• Boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem
• Helping you to build a sense of purpose
• Helping you to connect with others

You don’t need to be studying for a qualification! Even if you’re pressed for time or don’t feel you need new skills or information, there are lots of ways to bring learning into your life:

• Look for a new recipe and try learning to cook something new.
• Try taking on a new responsibility at work, such as mentoring a junior staff member or improving your presentation skills
• Work on a DIY project, such as fixing a broken bike, garden gate or something bigger. There are lots of free video tutorials online
• Consider signing up for a course at a local college. You could try learning a new language or a practical skill such as plumbing
• Try new hobbies that challenge you, such as writing a blog, taking up a new sport or learning to paint
• It’s much easier to learn from home these days via online or distance learning, you could Listen to a podcast or watch a documentary, even learn a new language via an online app

Give to others

Research suggests that acts of giving and kindness can help improve your mental wellbeing by:

• Creating positive feelings and a sense of reward
• Giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth
• Helping you connect with other people

It could be small acts of kindness towards other people, or larger ones like volunteering in your local community. Some examples of the things you could try include:

• Saying thank you to someone for something they have done for you
• Asking friends, family or colleagues how they are and really listening to their answer
• Spending time with friends or relatives who need support or company
• Offering to help someone you know with DIY or a work project
• Volunteering in your community

If you are a Family Carer these acts of giving might develop into a ‘reciprocal arrangement’ – they definitely create ‘ripples’ which improve not only our own but potentially many other people’s mental health & wellbeing.

Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

Worrying about what might happen in the future can lead to anxiety and dwelling on past negative experiences or mistakes can lead to depression. Paying more attention to and appreciating what is happening here and now can improve your mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.

Some people call this awareness “mindfulness”. Mindfulness can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.

You don’t have to practice formal meditation to be more mindful in your everyday life. Simply attending with all our senses and focussing our thoughts on the present moment for a few moments every day, can have a beneficial impact on our mental and physical health.

Mindful practice is a personal thing and there’s nothing to say you have to focus on your breathing or close your eyes if that feels uncomfortable for you. Here’s a few suggestions of simple mindfulness activities you could try:

• Try sitting still in one place and noticing as many things as you can see, hear, touch, smell and taste in 5 minutes. If the weather is OK this can be a particularly nice thing to do outdoors
• When you are undertaking an everyday task focus all your attention and senses on the task – if your mind wanders off, gently bring it back to the task in hand
• Allow yourself that special treat-food, and enjoy it ‘mindfully’ – taking your time to savour the flavours, scents, textures and sounds
• End each day with a gratitude or positivity journal – spend a few minutes each evening looking back over your day and record anything that has made you smile or for which you have felt grateful