HC-One was delighted to participate in Mental Health Awareness Week, an annual event which has been
hosted by the Mental Health Foundation for the past 21 years. The importance of mental health has been highlighted even more during the pandemic, with many people worried about coronavirus and its impact. This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week ran from Monday 10
th May to Sunday 16
th May, with the theme of nature - as evidence suggests access to nature is crucial for people’s mental health.
At Rievaulx House Care Home in Armley, Leeds, as part of the week’s activities, Residents explored their creative side with a flower powered arts and crafts session. The home also celebrated the amazing work and dedication of Colleagues, with each member of the team being presented with a card, containing a precious thank you note, and a delicious slice of cake and a cup of tea. Colleagues were invited to allow them to take a moment to reflect and think about both their own and their teams’ fantastic efforts to keep Residents safe and well throughout the pandemic.
Rievaulx House’s Home Manager, Julie Whitaker said:
“It was lovely to take the time to appreciate the hard work and commitment of our Colleagues to provide the safest and kindest care for our Residents.”
At White Gables Care Home in Lincoln, the home’s Wellbeing Coordinators directed the theme of activities towards promoting mental health.
Activities carried out during the course of the week included jigsaws which allowed Residents to feel a sense of accomplishment when they saw the finished result, along with fun games played that made everyone laugh, such as Ping-Pong and Connect Four. Residents also took part in an arts and crafts session where they made birdfeeders, and painted bug boxes and bird houses to feel a sense of connection with the outdoors, as part of the year’s nature theme.
Katherine Trevor and Kate Mand, Wellbeing Coordinators at White Gables Care Home commented:
“All these activities aim to promote good mental health by stimulating the senses and for Residents to feel important as part of the community within and outside the home.”
At Tower Bridge Care Home in Southwark, London, Residents took part in activities, which were all intended to have a positive effect on their mental wellbeing and overall health, by promoting the importance of physical activity.
Residents gathered in the home activities area to join in with the fun – the aim of one of the first games was to keep a balloon up off the floor and to hit it to other Residents. This helped improve Residents strength and fitness and also promoted social interaction and teamwork skills, as well as providing a light source of entertainment and humour by making Residents laugh.
Other activities included Residents drawing pictures of their favourite landmarks and colouring in pictures. The activities really made Residents reflect and think and they really enjoyed the day.
HC-One’s Colleague Engagement Team also ran an internal social media campaign posting messages with supportive information and resources on each day of the week, including Mental Health Foundation resources. As part of the week’s posts, HC-One encouraged Colleagues to experience nature by taking time to notice and celebrate the outdoors through taking a photo, video or sound recording and sharing this with each other to create a discussion on how they’ve being connecting with nature.
Award-winning artist Paul Cummins MBE’s artwork ‘The Tulip’ which symbolises hope and rebirth through adversity was shared to encourage Colleagues to take inspiration from Paul’s work to create their own tulip and display this in their window as a symbol of supporting mental health awareness and to share their creations with each other. HC-One promoted a Colleague seed planting event, as gardening is proven to show positive benefits for our wellbeing.
HC-One also shared the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ pillars which are key to improving mental health and are gravitated towards social connectedness, physical activity, awareness, learning and giving, and a post showing that performing acts of kindness helps to reduce stress and improve our emotional wellbeing.