World Mental Health Day
10th October is World Mental Health Day and the theme for 2021 is “Mental health care for all: Let’s make it a reality” Repeated lockdowns and the stresses of the pandemic over the past 18 months have had a major impact on people’s mental health. Increased loneliness, disruption to education and an increase in general anxiety are a few of the consequences of the pandemic. The aim of world Mental Health Day is to raise mental health awareness across the globe and highlight positive stories as an inspiration to others.
Social Passion Project
Our Social Passion Project is our social commitment to the mental health and general wellbeing in our community and this is an update from my first report in October 2020.
We started this project in 2019 with a Mental Health Hackathon and our purpose is to support mental health through eliminating stigma and improving access to assistance.
Our activities in the last 12 months.
Our free monthly wellbeing events continue to be popular with 682 signing up for these workshops since the start of the first UK lockdown. We are pleased to say that some of these people have been from outside of the UK and it is amazing to think of our small business in South Gloucestershire supporting wellbeing wherever it is needed around the world.
Our events are all zoom based and our events for the rest of 2021 are:
Create your vision! Live your best life! – 14th October at 1pm
Building Resilient Teams – 9th November 1pm
Ikigai & Happiness – 9th December 1pm
In addition to our events , 119 people have accessed our stress busting talk.
You can access our free events here and the stress busting talk here.
The Power of Story Telling
At the start of 2020 we launched The Bounce Back Journey, and during this year we have launched three further Bounce Back Journey books as follows:
The Bounce Back Journey of Women’s Health (October 2020)
The Bounce Back Journey of Men’s Health (November 2020)
The Bounce Back Journey of Careers (May 2021)
This makes a series of four titles, the profits from which support mental health projects in Bristol.
Take a look at these amazing books here
Sharing stories – it is a win-win-win!
Sharing stories is a powerful way to convey that there are lots of types of normal in our society and to reassure others that, whatever the challenge, this too will pass. We have enabled 75 people to share their stories since the start of 2020 through this community book series.
The first win we witness is often when people share their story for the first time and realise that it doesn’t define them and that there is value and comfort in their words for other people. It can be cathartic and liberating.
The second win comes when someone reads their story. It provides a bridge of humanity from the writer to the reader with the reader feeling less alone, that their troubles can also be overcome and that there is support. We have seen this first hand when one of our authors told us that a family member had read his story and it was the opportunity she needed to share her mental health challenges with him.
The third win is when the profits of the book go on to reach out in other ways to those in need. This year with some of the profits we have been able to support Suicide Prevention Bristol.
For World Suicide Prevention day on 10th September 2021 these book sales enabled us to make a financial contribution to Suicide Prevention Bristol (SPB). This will provide protective clothing, torches, a radio and training to a suicide prevention volunteer. During the next 12 months we will be supporting the SPB more and we thank our associate, Tracey McCarthy from HR Services Bristol, for responding to our call out for help for this group by offering her professional support.
Find out more about Suicide Prevention Bristol here.
As mentioned, 75 people have shared their inspirational stories of bouncing back and we have two more titles where we are looking for contributors. Could it be you?
The titles are:
The Bounce Back Journey of Gender & Sexuality
The Bounce Back Journey of Parenting
Contact nicky@discoveryourbounce.com for more information.
How can we help you more?
We have a Facebook group which has grown by 50% during the last twelve months. In here we continue to provide positive support through our Facebook lives at 9am on Monday with ‘Monday Motivation’ and 11am on Wednesday with ‘Wednesday Wellbeing’ which often has interviews with other wellbeing specialists.
As an additional help for Mental Health Awareness Day we are offering free access to our subscription service – My Wellbeing Club – from 11th to 15th October. This is a private Facebook group where we will be giving away daily wellbeing tips via Facebook lives and activities across Mind, Body, Spirit and Vision. You can also access our group mentoring session and vision workshop. On Friday 15thwe will have a community party on zoom at 5pm.
You are invited!
If you are looking for more energy and happiness our open week is the perfect resource for you to gain your daily dose of wellbeing.
Register for My Wellbeing Club’s open week here.
To join our main group, Discover Your Bounce Community go here.
To read all about our Social Passion Project: www.discoveryourbounce.com/social-passion-project
#worldmentalhealthday
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