The Mental Benefits of Being IN your Community
Belonging to Your Communities during Mental Health Awareness Week and into 2025
Did you know it’s Mental Health Awareness Week? Have you done you do anything?
I alone had to remind myself and others late last week – it’s part of my job! This national event was inspired by the Mental Health Foundation. They have grown significantly in recent years, with a clear mission: “to raise awareness of mental health and help people understand how to better support themselves and those around them”.
Do you think that is an important theme in your work?
Life is stressful, just look at the news, both inside and outside the UK. According to a recent BetterHelp survey, 35% of UK adults worry they’ll be judged for seeking professional mental health support. Meanwhile, 25% fear doing so might affect their job prospects. That’s a tough environment for anyone to thrive in.
We talk a lot about physical health, but mental health is just as important but not as much noticed. Just write both words on Google and see the images to notice what I mean. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has stated: “We urgently need more funding for mental health research. If we’re serious about treating mental and physical health equally, funding for mental health research needs to increase exponentially.”
Each May, “Mental Health Awareness Week” focuses on a national theme to encourage shared understanding and support. In recent years, they have explored themes like ‘loneliness’, ‘anxiety’, and ‘movement for our mental health’. The 2025 theme is especially relevant to the marketing and advertising sector: ‘Community’.
But what does ‘community’ really mean?
According to Oxford Languages, a community is “a group of people living or working in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.”
From an evolutionary point of view, we are social animals, tribal, even. We survived by working together to avoid danger. And while the threats today may be less physical (though I did hit a deer on the road near my home recently!), our brains still crave connection. I have to continuously connect and re-connect with communities in my work life.
Our minds are wired to seek safety through others. As author and sports performance coach Owen Eastwood puts it in “Belonging”:
“We are tribal. Belonging is the bedrock of trust, and trust delivers performance.”
That sense of connection, the trust we feel with colleagues, clients, friends, and family, isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the foundation of good mental health.
I noticed my tribes and communities and realised that I could help them. I made the effort to support these ones and more through writing an article. Institute of Practionersr, LawNet, Southampton City Council and my clients (potential! and existing). I also went round my local town with the Mental Health Foundation poster - see above!
Through my work at Melville Mental Solutions, I’ve had the privilege of supporting and not just on national events.
As we mark Mental Health Awareness Week, I invite you to…….p…a……..u……….s……….e.
Reflect on where you feel your sense of belonging. It will take just 30 seconds and perhaps bring you a relaxing smile. My smile is thinking about my family community and just the thought that I will be helping some people this week and in this month.
Consider how you might strengthen your community, whether it’s checking in with a colleague, offering your time to support someone else, or simply saying a sincere “thank you.” The Mental Health Foundation have provided a lovely set of tips. These include ways and part of you supporting your community at work or outside:
· Make it fun – choose something you enjoy
· Get outdoors – choose somewhere you want to go
· Show kindness to others – choose someone you want to help
· Welcome others – are there groups in your team or office that you can welcome.
And if you already do these then ‘well done’. It’s those small, prosocial acts that keep us connected.
Wishing you and your community a positive and healthy week and onwards