Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 takes place from 18-24 May 2020. The theme this year is kindness.
Mental Health and Me
As a family we are marking this years Mental Health Awareness Week by thinking about each of the NHS’s 5 steps to Improve our Mental Health and how we can include them in our daily lives;
- Connecting with Others – This is hard to do under the current lockdown circumstances! But with the miracle of modern technology we can now connect through Facetime with Nanny’s and take part in family Quiz Nights.
- Being Physically Active – Did you know that spending time in nature can have huge positive effects on your mental health? With the children at home at the moment, we are loving spending a lot of time outdoors, exploring the woods and playing on the riverbank.
- Learning New Skills – I enjoy spending time immersing myself with a task, letting all other thoughts fade away for a time. We have been adding more play equipment to our Natural Playground, which has allowed me to get creative.
- Giving to Others – We have been thinking of ways to help friends who are key workers and we came up with the idea of cooking some meals and baking tasty treats for them. It’s a win-win because they benefit with yummy food and the children love baking (making a mess in mummy’s kitchen!)
- Paying attention to the Present Moment (Mindfulness) – In these uncertain times I find it easy to get wrapped up worrying about the future. I am trying to stay more in present, concentrate only on what I can actually control, and find things each day to feel grateful for.
