2022 Mental Health Awareness Week - Redcar and Cleveland Health Improvement Team

LONELINESS! A bold and unforgiving phrase. This was the theme for this years Mental Health Awareness Week as set by the Mental Health Foundation  https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ .

Perceptions of loneliness differ in individuals but more than often, the image conjured up is one of an old person sitting by themselves in their bungalow. Right or wrong, this tends to be the initial reaction to the word loneliness. I would implore all of us to search within to explore the concept of loneliness: what it means to us, how it makes us feel and the times when you may have experienced it. What we find is that many of us have experienced loneliness at varying degrees at different points in our lives. Each experience is unique and there is not a one size fits all in dealing with it. We all need to do what works for our own mental health and wellbeing. After all we are all individually unique in our own way.

Here in Redcar and Cleveland we approached the week through a combination of methods aimed at raising awareness of the week and in promoting some of the practical way’s that can support people.  Though the week was focusing on loneliness, we felt that the word held negative connotations, so we dropped the word and adopted the phrase “better together”. To highlight these issues we do not need to be rigid with titles or the wording of national campaigns so long as the underlying message and aim is still the same. Make it locally relevant and more people will connect to the messages been delivered.

I am proud of all the individuals who put a lot of hard work into engaging with the people they met over the week; made possible  working together with RCVDA, Health Watch, R+C Mind, Age UK, Tees Wildlife Trust, Foundation and RCBC empowering communities’ team. Coming together, we combined our resources to go on the road with R+C Mind’s VW van to visit locations across the borough. At each location, a team of representatives from the services gave out a range of information from local groups’/activities to information on services specific to supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing. During the week, the team engaged with over 500 people ranging in age and over 100 businesses.  Engagement ranged from handing out information to having individual conversations with some being referred into a support service.

Alongside a physical presence we used digital tools to maximise social media presence. Prior to the week, videos were taken of different local groups offering activities helping people to maintain the mental health and wellbeing. These videos were shared over the corporate RCBC Facebook and the Feelgood Redcar and Cleveland Facebook page  to promote the group and raise awareness of how to get involved. To widen the messages across services in the borough, we created an information pack with links to information for the week. Services and groups no matter how big or small were encouraged to take part in the week and the pack supported them to do this.

The work does not stop there. The community health development coordinators at RCBC will continue to engage with groups and activities across communities to build upon strengths and identify needs.

Gemma Marshall, June 2022