It’s been a busy time for many of our services and teams as Recovery Focus celebrated Mental Health Awareness Week across the country from 13 – 20 May.
This year the theme was body image, focusing on how we think and feel about our bodies. All week across social media, our partner Richmond Fellowship showcased body positivity messages and tips on healthy eating.
Up in Leicester, Richmond Fellowship’s Leicestershire Life Links service
were busy throughout the week, running activities, delivering workshops and holding stalls across the city. Alongside working in partnership with some local organisations, the team ran open access events for anyone to attend. You can read more about what they got up to on their blog here.
A few miles further north, Richmond Fellowship's Lancashire Crisis locality hosted and facilitated many exciting activities across the region. Staff set up stalls in Blackpool, Lancaster, Chorley and Burnley town centres, spending time chatting with members of the public to raise awareness of mental health and providing a free ‘mental health MOT’ for people who had a spare five minutes to discuss their wellbeing and things they could do to keep themselves well. Across all four towns, the team reached approximately 180 people.
Staff also spent time at Blackpool and the Fylde College, speaking to staff and students about stress during exam season and sharing tips to look after their mental health.
In Cambridge, James and Anna from Richmond Fellowship’s employment service went along to an employer’s next steps fair at Arbury Community Centre.
Richmond Fellowship’s Roper and Queen Street supported housing services in Cumbria held some cooking sessions making healthy pizzas and smoothies. They also did some ‘Chair-A-Cise’, which are simple exercises you can do whilst sitting in a chair.
Elsewhere, Richmond Fellowship’s Macclesfield Homelessness and
Complex Needs service held a wellbeing session, giving people we support the chance to share their experiences of mental health services.
Richmond Fellowship’s West Berkshire supported housing service pitched up in Kennet Shopping Centre in Newbury to promote their service and engage shoppers in conversations around mental health.
Meanwhile in Surrey, The Old Moat Garden Centre took the opportunity to share some videos on social media to celebrate the work they do at the social enterprise.
A number of our teams and staff members also appeared on radio stations throughout the week.
The team at EVOLVE, Aquarius’ social enterprise café in Birmingham appeared on 107.5 Switch Radio to talk about the work they do – click here to listen.
Lisa and Dan from Aquarius also appeared on Switch Radio along with Compass Support to talk about the impact of drugs and alcohol on mental health – click here to listen.
Communications and Marketing Officer Matt Webb was interviewed on BBC WM 95.6 about his journey to recovery from a person using Richmond Fellowship’s services in Cambridge to becoming a member of staff – click here to listen and also on Cambridge 105 Radio – click here to listen.