Publish date: 6 May 2022
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week next week (9 to 15 May) and there’s a lot of things going on across our Trust and beyond as part of the campaign, which is themed around loneliness.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, loneliness has a huge impact on our physical and mental health, an issue that was clearly made worse during the pandemic. Connecting with family, friends, colleagues and our local community is fundamental to protecting our mental health. Reducing loneliness is a major step towards a mentally healthy society.
Linked to this, the North Hammersmith & Fulham MINT team is moving into the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, home of Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club, in a bid to reach out to more people in the local area in need of mental health support. This is a brilliant and innovative way of working that I’m sure will help with referral rates in the surrounding areas of Shepherd’s Bush.
One of the pioneers of mental health treatment, Dr John Conolly, undertook much of his work in the old Hanwell Asylum which is now part of the St Bernard’s Hospital. To commemorate this work, there will be a blue plaque fitted to a wall at St Bernard’s, courtesy of English Heritage.
We’re also launching a digital marketing campaign for the perinatal mental health services. This will be aimed at increasing relatively low referral rates of women who are pregnant or have had a baby into a service where we know there is huge untapped demand and to increasing awareness levels amongst people who need it most. Look out for its launch on Monday 9 and please share it through your social media accounts and with local community organisations.
An exciting innovation through local services is the collaboration with Mind to create a public-facing directory of mental health services. The site recently went live and the Trust will be promoting it this week. Please share this far and wide as it covers voluntary sector and social care services as well as the NHS.
Look out for more details on our social channels about all the activities taking place throughout the week.
Carolyn Regan,
Chief Executive of West London NHS Trust
