Supporting the new Every Mind Matters campaign
Supporting the new Every Mind Matters campaign
Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters campaign has taken centre stage in the response to COVID-19.
New data from the ONS has shown how over 4 in 5 of the UK population are worried about the impact of coronavirus on their life, with nearly half reporting high levels of anxiety.
The Every Mind Matters website now includes new NHS expert tips and advice, highlighting all the practical ways people can look after their mental wellbeing and prevent concerns from turning into more serious conditions: support for specific issues such as anxiety, stress, low mood and trouble sleeping and the value of simple activities such as mindful breathing, reframing unhelpful thoughts, and muscle relaxation. Site users can also generate personalised mental well-being advice through the Every Mind Matters ‘Mind Plan’, a free interactive tool.
Awareness of the advice has been boosted by TV advertising and social media video narrated by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
EAPA chair Eugene Farrell says: “Our experience via EAPs has long demonstrated the critical importance of mental wellbeing to employee health – what starts as the smallest of worries has the potential to escalate into debilitating health issues with a ripple of effects. As the recent data shows, the fundamental and inescapable impacts of COVID-19 on so many lives is a huge threat to the state of the nation’s psychological health.
“But as the Every Mind Matters campaign shows, we’re also increasingly aware and accepting of the issues, there are more open conversations, more willingness to make use of expert services like an EAP. By working together, making use of the expertise available and keeping on talking, we can come out of this period even stronger than before.”
The NHS-endorsed content for Every Mind Matters’ COVID-19 response has been developed in partnership with clinicians, academics and leading mental health charities and social enterprises including Mind, Mental Health Foundation, Samaritans, Rethink, Mental Health First Aid England, the Royal Foundation, the Centre for Mental Health, Time to Change, NSUN, and What Works Wellbeing.