World Mental Health Day – Find Your Big Little Thing

This Tuesday – October 10^th – is World Mental Health Day and this year is all about finding the little things that make a big difference to our mental health.

‘Find your little big thing’ is run by the NHS campaign Every Mind Matters, and is encouraging and helping people to discover what we can do to support better mental health, no matter how small.

Making time for your mental wellbeing is important – and building in these little things as part of your routine can help you feel better and more in control

These little things can include:

• Getting physically active – like taking a walk
• Talking to someone you trust
• Getting the most from your sleep – like avoiding screen-time an hour before bed or getting out of bed and doing something simple until you feel tired again
• Getting closer to nature
• Planning something nice to look forward to

Little things like a daily walk or a regular chat can make a big difference to your mental health

The Every Mind Matters website has lots of NHS-approved tips and advice to help you ‘find your little big thing’. You can also get a free, personalised Mind Plan – a mental health action plan that provides practical tips to help you deal with anxiety and stress, boost your mood, sleep better, and feel more in control.

A great place to find out about loads of local and national mental health services is The Hub of Hope – this is the UK’s leading mental health support database.

It is provided by national mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma, and brings local, national, peer, community, charity, private and NHS mental health support and services together in one place for the first time.

The services and support listed on the Hub of Hope are not only for when things become unbearable – a crisis point. They are also for those times when we notice we are starting to struggle, or when we need extra support as we start to emerge from a particularly difficult time.

On the site, there are loads of different areas of mental health support so you can search for support and advice exactly where you need it.

The Hub of Hope also lists support and services for family members and friends to help them to find help for themselves, as well as for the person they are supporting – the wellbeing of each member of an interconnected family or community is dependent on the wellbeing of all of its members.

You can find out more here: https://hubofhope.co.uk/

If you want to make a positive difference to other people’s mental health, there is the Orange Button Scheme in Blackburn and Darwen.

The Orange Button is worn by people in Lancashire and South Cumbria who have undergone specialised suicide prevention training, who can provide sensitive listening, support and signposting to the right services.

The scheme aims to create a community of people trained in suicide awareness that have gained skills including active listening, from the quality assured training. There are now more than 2,500 trained members across the area, including in Blackburn and Darwen.

The Orange Button scheme is still in its early stages, but the aim is to have as many volunteers as possible undertake the specialist training, and for people to know that an Orange Button means there is someone there to help.

To find out more or to become an Orange Button wearer, visit: https://www.healthierlsc.co.uk/OrangeButtonScheme

For a comprehensive list of local groups, support and advice around mental health, go to: https://bewellbwd.com/ and search for ‘mental health’.

Councillor Damian Talbot, Executive member for Public Health, Prevention and Wellbeing, said:

Looking after your mental health is just as important as looking after your physical health, and World Mental Health Day is a great way to remind ourselves of this and have a think about any support or advice that we might benefit from.

If you, or someone you know, feels anxious, down or stressed, then so much information about support can be found in the links above. Please take a look if you need to, everyone is here to help and reaching out to someone can make all the difference to your mental health.

World Mental Health Day is also a great opportunity for us to continue raising awareness around suicide prevention. Suicide is utterly tragic and its effects are devastating for family members, loved ones, friends, colleagues and the local community.

The more support we have for mental health the better as removing stigma is massively important. If you’re suffering in silence please don’t – please contact any of the services that are mentioned here –support is out there.”