Dry January for the Mental Health Foundation

Back in March, I decided to create a network of Covid community help groups through Facebook so that members who join had a place to ask for support and offer support to those in need. I created a separate group for 23 UK cities with some groups reaching over 3000 members. The list of groups can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/CoronavirusCommunityHelp/groups 

Although we had 100's of members offering support to the rest of the community, this isn't enough. As we get deeper into the pandemic, more and more people are suffering from mental health-related issues or illnesses.

According to health.org.uk, more than two-thirds of adults in the UK (69%) report feeling somewhat or very worried about the effect COVID-19 is having on their life. The most common issues affecting wellbeing are worried about the future (63%), feeling stressed or anxious (56%) and feeling bored (49%).

Do you want to help make a difference? If so, I'm raising money in aid of the Mental Health Foundation by taking part in Dry January (Dry January means going alcohol-free for the month of January). Any donation amount will be appreciated. 

The list below will outline just some of the factors that may increase mental health inequalities:

- Social isolation

- Job and financial losses

- Housing insecurity and quality

- Working in a front-line service

- Loss of coping mechanisms

- Reduced access to mental health services

I think it's very important that we try to do all we can to support our friends, family & other members of the community, even a small conversation or a smile could be enough to help make someone get through the day.

Here are some suggestions on how to support someone who is suffering from some sort of mental health problem: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/supporting-someone-mental-health-problem

I also want to use this as an opportunity to thank over 50 volunteers that joined me to help moderate the covid community help groups which would have been an impossible task to do on my own.

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More information about the Mental Health Foundation: The Mental Health Foundation is the UK's Charity for everyone's mental health. With prevention at the heart of what we do we aim to find and address the sources of mental health problems so that people and communities can thrive.

Mental Health Foundation - Coronavirus Hub: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus