Elevate Well-being: Mental Health Awareness Week

Creating, designing and embedding a proactive, sustainable and evolving employee Wellbeing programme not only supports your people, but it also creates both a measurable impact on a company’s ESG strategy and creates a wider competitive advantage in the continuing “war for talent”.

It is generally accepted there are four key pillars to Wellbeing:

•  Physical Wellbeing (where we lead an active, healthy lifestyle, we’re able to minimise our chances of illness and disease),

•  Mental Wellbeing (about how we feel. It’s about being emotionally and psychologically healthy, able to enjoy our lives and feel a sense of meaning and purpose.),

•  Financial wellbeing (individuals need to feel secure, in control and free to make their own financial decisions.), and

•  Social Wellbeing (maintaining healthy relationships with others, and interacting positively with people. Being able to manage social situations and recognising our own impact on other people is a key part of this.

Each pillar of Wellbeing works to support the others. As with the “domino affect”, as one starts to fall, so do the others. It’s just as important to look after every single pillar of Wellbeing, and for May the spotlight is firmly on Mental Wellbeing.

This years theme for Mental Health Awareness Week:

This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness week is “Movement: Moving more for our mental health”. According to the Mental Health Foundation one of the most important things we can do to help protect our mental health is regular movement. Sounds easy, right…! – Source

Forth, Health and Wellbeing specialists, undertook research which found, more than 1 in 7 UK adults say their mental health is currently either bad, or the worst it’s ever been. A further piece of research showed that in the UK in 2024, the term “how to reduce stress” is searched on Google once every 10 minutes, on average.

Moving more can increase your energy, reduce stress and anxiety, and boost your self-esteem. Does movement actually benefit our mental health? In very simple terms, absolutely! Physical activity is great for our mental health. When we exercise, our bodies release a natural hormone called endorphins, which can improve your mood.

Moving is important for our mental health. Yet research by the Mental Health Foundation shows that more than one-third of UK adults find it challenging to find the time for movement. New research from the Mental Health Foundation shows that too many people are facing barriers to moving for their mental health due to financial strain and inequality.

Research from Mental Health UK shows that 56% of people found that exercising regularly helped them to alleviate stress and prevent burnout in their lives. When we talk about “movement” in relation to physical activity, we really mean any way you move your body that uses energy. This might be everyday activities such as walking or cleaning, or more intensive activities such as running, swimming, and playing sports. Every kind of movement is valid and it’s an individual’s choice, however, small changes can have a real benefit to your Health and Wellbeing.

Studies show that movement and physical activity helps our mental health by managing stress, improving sleep and self-esteem, meeting new people and spending time with others, just to name a few. A good source to read on can be found here.

When life’s busy, it can be tricky finding time for exercise, but finding moments for movement might be easier than you think. Friends of mine go running, others take part in yoga and gardening. For me, I will stick with doing more walking (instead of driving!) and SCUBA diving. We will all have our own thoughts on what type of activities can be done, and for how long, based on personal interests, and limitations.

So, what are you waiting for. Go on, give it a go! You’ll be surprised how much time you can fill with Movement…

If you would like to learn more about how Black Mountain can help, you can get in touch with us via email: enquiries@blackmountainhr.com or you can visit our contact us webpage here