This year's theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is "Body Image" - how we think and feel about our bodies. We should take many steps to look after ourselves and others, such as:
Talking to someone (such as a friend, family member or health professional).
Being aware about our own and other people's bodies.
Finding the best way that works for you to stay active.
Linking Mental Health with Integration
The first priority in our strategy is Connecting across Communities. Integration is important in supporting those with mental health. Through our upcoming projects with partners, we hope to contribute to the prevention of mental health issues by reducing isolation and better supporting individuals and communities to come together. Examples include lunch time club activities, aimed at older members of the community, creative community projects, outreach youth work, sports programmes and much more. If you would like to learn more about our projects and get involved, why not follow us on our social media platforms to stay updated with the latest news.
In our second priority Young People Learning and Growing Together, our aim is to support children and young people to feel more integrated through programmes such as School Linking, UNICEF, National Citizen Service and Walsall for All arts projects to enable social mixing and building friendships.
Working and Contributing Together is our third priority. There is a need to better understand specific needs, tackle isolation and overcome barriers to taking part in opportunities. As an example, we are currently working with the Department of Work and Pensions to support and empower women in the local community through the work of Community Connectors, which includes empowerment workshops and coffee mornings.
Living Together is our fourth priority, which links closely with Connecting across Communities. This focuses on creating opportunities for people to meet and live together in harmony. However, some people live in fear because of their background or status.
Hate crime can be linked to mental health. Those who experience hate crime can suffer from stress, anger, distress and become vulnerable. Many instances of hate crime often go unreported for many reasons, such as feeling unsure of how to report the incident, fear of what might happen afterwards or a belief that nothing will be done to prevent it from happening again. We will work with partners such as the Police and organisations that specialise with hate crime to understand data around reasons for not reporting hate crime and explore ways we can provide immediate support services to those affected by such incidents.
Getting help and support
If you are worried about mental health or someone you know, you can speak to someone you trust (such as a friend or family member) or your GP. There are also many charities (locally and nationally) that provide support.
WPH Counselling (a free, local counselling service): 01922 649000, email wphcounselling@btconnect.com or visit http://wphcounselling.org/
Samaritans: 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.uk
Mind: 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
Get in touch
If you would like to find out more about Walsall for All or get involved with the programme, email us at walsallforall@walsall.gov.uk or call the Community, Equality and Cohesion team on 01922 655797.