It’s Mental Health Awareness Week this week (Monday 9 – Sunday 15 May) and this year’s theme is loneliness. The aim is to raise awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing and the practical steps we can take to address it.
Loneliness is actually a normal part of life, with most of us feeling lonely at some time or other. Loneliness is not about the number of friends we have, the time we spend on our own or something that happens when we reach a certain age.
Loneliness is the feeling we experience when there is a mismatch between the social connections we have and those that we need or want, which means it can be different for everyone. Experiencing loneliness can gnaw away at our sense of self-worth, belonging and confidence.
Our connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting our mental health. Alongside exercise, having a community of like-minded people around you to provide connections and a sense of belonging can go a long way to support positive mental health.
Here at Performance Project we pride ourselves on our strong sense of community amongst both our members and our team. We support and encourage each other and we are always here to listen to worries or problems that any of our community may be experiencing and help in any way possible.
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event held by the Mental Health Foundation. Now in its 21st year the event has grown to become one of the biggest awareness weeks across the UK and globally. Each year the Foundation sets a different theme and organises and hosts events to support it.
So, why choose loneliness as the theme this year? The Mental Health Foundation is fully aware of the impact of loneliness on people’s physical and mental health and during the pandemic people have been experiencing loneliness more than ever.
A study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation – Mental Health in the Pandemic – showed that Covid 19 brought the experience of loneliness closer to millions of us. It found that during the lockdowns loneliness was almost three times that of pre-pandemic levels. Connections with friends, family and everyday relationships were disrupted, or in some cases broken.
The aim of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is to give loneliness the attention it deserves, to bring it out from the shadows where it is so often hidden. The Mental Health Foundation will be releasing research to show the embedded misunderstanding and prejudice around loneliness, and why the length of time we experience loneliness is so vital to its effect on our mental health.
It will explore the shame people often feel and how many still struggle to talk about loneliness and how it is affecting their mental health. It is important that we gain as much understanding of the impact of loneliness as possible and implement ways to help people combat it.
Mental Health Awareness Week will highlight practical steps we can take to address loneliness as a nation, as it recognises that reducing the issue is a major step towards a mentally healthy society.
One of the steps we can all take to be part of the movement to tackle loneliness is to speak up and break the stigma of loneliness.
The Mental Health Foundation wants to hear your stories of loneliness as sharing stories helps reduce the stigma surrounding it and challenges the stereotypes about who experiences loneliness.
There are other things you can do too, including taking the opportunity to get in touch with a friend or neighbour you haven’t spoken with in a while. Take a look at the research and tips that the Mental Health Foundation will be publishing during the week.
Let’s work together to shatter the stigma around loneliness. Use the hashtag #IveBeenThere and #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
