The change from the original theme, “Sleep”, was made by the Mental Health Foundation. This is the charity that started Mental Health Awareness Week as a way to create awareness for mental health as touching certain issues they choose to highlight annually. The charity decided to change the theme to make it as relevant as possible to people being affected by the coronavirus.
The Week will run from 18th to 24th May and is an opportunity to focus on mental health.
Mark Rowland, the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, has been quoted to say the following:
“Now more than ever, we need to re-discover kindness in our daily lives. We want to use Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the thousands of acts of kindness that are so important to our mental health. And we want to start a discussion on the kind of society we want to shape as we emerge from this pandemic”.
“Kindness unlocks our shared humanity and is central to our mental health. It has the potential to bring us together with benefits for everyone, particularly at times of great stress. One thing we have seen all over the world is that kindness is prevailing in uncertain times, helping people to connect and communities to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“Kindness is also a vital way we can help support the millions of people who were experiencing mental health problems long before the pandemic started.”
MHF has not forgotten the previous theme – “Sleep”. Since it is an important topic, it will be revisited.
Mr Rowland added: “We will publish more details after Easter but the Week is open to anyone and everyone to take part – be it by carrying out an act of kindness, doing some volunteering or contributing to the discussion about what kind of society we want to emerge from the pandemic.”
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