As we are in the midst of Mental Health Awareness Week, now is the perfect time to reflect on the importance of caring for your mental health. This year’s theme, as set by Mental Health Foundation, is “Movement: moving for our mental health.”

Why is Caring for your Mental Health Important?

Caring for your mental health matters because it influences every aspect of your life from physical health to work performance and many more parts of your daily routine. As a homecare company we want to ensure we can offer the resources that will benefit the well-being of our staff, service users and their families. With that in mind we’ve put together some simple tips to help you change your mindset to a more positive outlook.

3 Simple Changes to Care for your Mental Health

Sometimes it’s the little tweaks in life that can make the biggest difference to your mental health, the following changes are quick and easy to implement, but can make such a difference if you’re having a bad day.

Physical Activities

One way of making a slight change to our day is being physically active. This is great for both your body and mind, and has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression.

Participating in physical activity doesn’t have to be intense it can be as simple as a walk round your local park, any level of physical movement is proven to be good for your brain health, why not check out our recent blog on ‘Walking for Your Well-being‘ for a list of walking activities in your area. As the weather gets warmer, this could be a perfect opportunity to get outside and enhance your mental health.

Practice Mindfulness

Another way of caring for your mental health could be by incorporating mindfulness practices into your daily routine, such as meditation or simply taking moments throughout the day to focus on the present moment.

These practices can help reduce anxiety and promote a sense of calm. Setting aside a few minutes of your day where you can sit with your thoughts and clear your mind is likely to serve a positive impact on your mental health and and well-being.

Engage in Hobbies

Engaging in your hobbies is also a great way to occupy your mind offering a distraction from current worries and stress. If you have a particular hobby you love why not discuss it with your carer to see if they share any similar interests. Furthermore, if there’s any classes you wish to partake in but may struggle to get there without additional support our Companionship Care services can help.

Whether it’s taking the time to do something you already know brings you happiness or taking the time to discover a new hobby, personal time is important to do things you love as having hobbies help you grow in various ways, including exposing you to new opinions and new ways to look at life.

Protecting our staff

Working in the care sector, we understand that not every day is the same and being a carer can be something of an emotional rollercoaster.

With this in mind, we have teamed up with Health Assured to offer an Employee Assistance Programme to enable all our staff members the opportunity to access compassionate support 24 hours a day, for whatever challenges they may face.

This service provides a free confidential helpline for those that wish to reach out for support across a variety of personal matters, including financial well-being, stress and anxiety and even legal information, to name but a few. The service is also available to immediate family members, to ensure their continued well-being.

All staff members will also gain access to the Wisdom App, which offers a number of self-help tools to keep them happy and healthy.