Be Kind: Mental Health Awareness Week
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
This week is Mental Health Awareness week - an annual campaign hosted by the Mental Health Foundation. The theme this year is kindness.
Paying attention to our mental health is crucial, especially during these uncertain times. And even if we ourselves feel ok, it's equally important to consider the wellbeing of those around us too - some may be struggling more than they let on.
We have a wide range of resources offering all kinds of support - from healthy habits to confidential counselling, we wish to support all colleagues during challenging times.
Health, Work and Wellbeing page
Our Health, Work and Wellbeing page offers a comprehensive range of resources covering many topics, including material specific to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here you will find everything from advice on staying active to tools on building mental resilience, as well as University policies and much more. The page is updated regularly, so keep checking back to see what's new.
Wellbeing Peer Support network
Our Wellbeing Peer Support network provides confidential support and information to colleagues experiencing poor wellbeing, emotional distress or a mental health issue. They are trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, and can guide you toward the right support services.
Visit our Wellbeing Peer Support page to find out how they can help you.
SportsPark in your living room
Missing your lunchtime sessions at the SportsPark? You can find exercise videos on YouTube, Instagram and through the SportsPark app, so why not take a class or two?
They have also released the Stay Healthy at Home guide, a handy collection of habits for maintaining a healthy balance at home.
Employee Assistance Programme
The University provides an Employee Assistance Programme called Confidential Care. It is an independent, free, confidential support and counselling service, offering 24/7 support every day of the year.
Here, you can get support with issues such as work stress, depression, marriage and relationship issues, legal concerns, coping with change, parenting issues, financial problems, health issues and much more. Find out how to use the programme.
Learning and development
We regularly hold wellbeing themed training courses in our online learning platform, UoRLearn. Right now, we have online courses focusing on managing stress and developing resilience, and our Resources for Remote Working module includes material on the challenges of working remotely.
There are also free courses available on our learning platform FutureLearn, with content developed in collaboration with experts from our schools and research centres. Learn about Depression, Anxiety and CBT in adults and young people, or give yourself a boost by learning something completely new -see the full range on our Free Online Courses page.
Next month we plan to hold a Mental Health First Aid course - full details will be shared soon.
Other resources and activities
There is no shortage of great material out there to inspire you to nurture your mental health.
Along with the University resources on offer, we'd also like to draw your attention to a few extra sources:
Mental Health Awareness Week - the Mental Health Foundation have a great selection of material on their website, including a supporter pack with ideas for activities to do this week.
Mind - mental health charity Mind are fantastic advocates for destigmatising conditions such as depression and anxiety. There are many great tools on their website, and this week they are using the hashtag #SpeakYourMind to inspire people to share experiences of mental health issues.
Sport in Mind - this week, charity Sport in Mind are holding ‘Don't Drop the Ball on mental health', an initiative raising awareness of mental health problems and the benefits of being active. Challenge yourself to complete 10 keep ups (or however many you can) using any ball or suitable sports equipment.
Time out
While things are so unusual, it can be easy to forget the normal things you would do to reset the balance in an average working week. Don't forget that you can take annual leave as you would do normally - visit the Employee Self Service to book holiday and check allowances.