As part of Mental Health Awareness Week Coopers Fire raised £200 for The Mental Health Foundation
Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is an annual event when there is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. The Mental Health Foundation started the event 21 years ago. Each year the Foundation continues to set the theme, organise and host the week. The event has grown to become one of the biggest awareness weeks across the UK and globally.
The theme for 2022 was Loneliness. Loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and has had a huge impact on our physical and mental health during the pandemic. Our connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting our mental health and we need to find better ways of tackling the epidemic of loneliness. We can all play a part in this. Reducing loneliness is a major step towards a mentally healthy society.
Feeling lonely isn’t in itself a mental health problem, but the two are strongly linked. Having a mental health problem can increase your chance of feeling lonely. Feeling lonely can also have a negative impact on your mental health, especially if these feelings have lasted a long time. Some research suggests that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of certain mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, sleep problems and increased stress.
Studies have found that getting outside and enjoying nature can reduce feelings of loneliness. To encourage everyone to get outside we ran our second Nature photography competition. We had some great entries covering a broad range of content. There was a whole herd of animal pictures from caterpillars to horses and everything in between as well as plenty of picturesque landscapes. This year’s winning photograph, pictured below, was taken by Piotr from our purchasing department. With Abby from our Commercial team and Ron from production, taking second and third place, respectively.
On the Friday of MHAW staff at Ignis House joined in ‘wear it green day’ in support of The Mental Health Foundation and raised £200. Thank you and well done to everyone involved.
