This week New Leaf Recovery and Wellbeing College is raising awareness for Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 May) hosted by the Mental Health Foundation.

This Year’s theme is loneliness. Since our courses started this term, we have been taking note of your feedback about how loneliness seems higher than ever before. However, we are pleased to hear that our courses are helping to reduce isolation, and that got us thinking, what else can we, as a community, do to help reduce loneliness?

Some of the ideas suggested by our students include:

• Sending a ‘thinking about you’ text
• Writing a ‘thank you’ card and sending it in the post
• Connecting online via social media platforms
• Calling Samaritans and free mental health support lines
• Talking with a health professional
• Attending free support groups
• Finding local events to join
• Starting a book club
• Hosting a BBQ or event for the jubilee
• Connecting with a mentor

Connecting doesn’t have to include grand gestures or big adventures. Sometimes it’s the little things that matter; like asking a neighbour over for a cup of tea or giving someone a hug.

Connecting with others in similar situations also helps to reduce loneliness, which is why finding local events, support groups, or activity workshops can help. Courses such as ‘building healthy relationships’ ‘assertive communication skills’ and ‘shared decision making’ have also helped some of our students.

We know there are more ideas out there – and we’re challenging you to think about what you can do to manage your wellbeing through making better connections.

Better yet if you can consider how you can help your friends, family or community in the process.

There’s plenty of support available. Our digital inclusion leaflet will soon be available, and in the meantime, you can read out futher help handout to discover lots of organisations willing to support you.

We’re interested to know what worked and what didn’t, and if you’re interested in sharing your thoughts, send your poems, blogs, videos or feedback to Newleaf.wellbeingcollege@nhs.net.