In recent days the subject of mental health has again been in the headlines as three sporting icons have shared honestly about their challenges.
Simone Biles brave decision to prioritise her mental health during an Olympic Gymnastics campaign, Ben Stokes taking time off from cricket to restore his mental health after injury and bereavement and footballer Tyrone Mings sharing his mental health struggles during the Euro’s have all hit the headlines.
These stories show us that the pandemic has had an extraordinary effect on all our lives. They show us too how hard it is to make decisions to prioritise our health and wellbeing. But thirdly they show us how vital sharing honest lived experience can be in helping others make brave decisions too.
That is where our One4Another campaign will seek to make an impact.
Living Under Strain
The last eighteen months living under a pandemic has put many people’s mental health under increasing strain.
There are many statistics to share but for example, the number of adults in England feeling lonely has jumped by 44% in the last year, from 2.6 million to 3.7 million (Carnegie UK.). In the middle of the pandemic, Kings College London found in the early summer that 57% of people were experiencing anxiety (26% moderate to severe anxiety) and 64% experiencing some sort of depression (31.6% moderate to severe.)
This has led many to comment on a concerning wellbeing struggle facing many people. Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, said the analysis highlighted a “worrying decline in collective wellbeing.”
Here at Space to Breathe we’ve been aware of this growing trend of wellbeing challenges.
Our Wellbeing Check-In service has been inundated with requests for support.
Our Tackling Inequalities work has been fueled by worrying inequalities in the mental health effects of the pandemic.
Our work with carers and community workers has shown how many local organisations, key workers and carers are supporting others whilst facing immense strain themselves.
Lived Experience
During this time we have been so grateful for the growing number of people who volunteer with us in order to support our work.
As we receive more and more volunteer applications we’ve been struck how often lived experience is a key driver. Most of our volunteers have experienced mental health challenges and having recovered or learnt to manage them, then want to give something back.
One4Another Campaign
So this month we’re launching an ongoing campaign that feels incredibly important at this time. We passionately believe the actions of one person can help another and so we are embarking on sharing the message of “one for another” - that each time we make the courageous step to be honest, or we take action to give back, or we donate to a cause - we make a difference to someone else.
This campaign will specifically encourage one person to step forward on behalf of another to do three things.
· To share their story - whether online, anonymously or in person. We believe honest, safe and healthy stories of our own struggles make a difference. We’ll be sharing bags of ways to help you.
· To Volunteer or take action. The idea of giving back, taking time to act out of our own experiences is vital. We’ll be profiling ways you can volunteer or take action with Space to Breathe but also with other organisations too.
· To donate £14 towards our campaign. Keeping the ONE-FOUR another theme, we’ll be encouraging people to make a one-off donation of £14 to Space to Breathe to enable us to support individuals as they come to terms with wellbeing challenges, provide resources alongside our impactful Wellbeing Zones programme and to increase access to wellbeing support through translation and using alternative methods/approaches to engage with those who struggle to access MH support.
They’ll be lots of articles, videos, stories and ideas to help you engage in these areas in the weeks ahead, but for now you find ways to respond below.
We’ll be using a hashtag #one4another to hold the campaign together online and we’d encourage you to share, comment and post using that hashtag too as a way to spread the word.
We’d love you to join us on this journey where we believe lived experience matters. If each of us, as one person, choose to act, we are convinced another will benefit.
Why not join in today by sharing, acting or donating below.