We all know the old adage, ‘it’s better to give than to receive,’ but did you realise that altruistic gesture not only benefits others, it is also good for you.

As Action Mental Health this week focuses on parenting as part of the #CovidWellbeingNI campaign and the benefits of the Five Ways to Wellbeing, we’re urging mums and dads to encourage their children to give to others, as we emerge from the lockdown – and beyond.

Giving is good for the community, for individuals and for you. Likewise, by encouraging your children to give of themselves and of their time to help others, you’ll be leading them down a path that has been proven to:

• Lower blood pressure
• Increase self-esteem
• Lower levels of depression
• Lower stress levels
• Lead to longer life
• Lead to greater happiness

The Mental Health Foundation cites research that has shown that people who are kind and compassionate see clear benefits to their well-being and happiness. They may even live longer. Kindness can also help reduce stress and improve our emotional well-being, so there’s no greater example to set your children than to encourage them to adopt this type of approach to life.

Giving of yourself and your time can be difficult in life, especially with conflicting daily stresses in our busy lives – not to mention the current coronavirus pandemic. It can therefore be difficult to commit to volunteer your time, or give back to your community. But the research has shown the if we take the time to be kind to other people – whatever way we give of ourselves, we can reap emotional dividends. It can really make a difference and especially for people who are vulnerable or struggling.   

The coronavirus has led to something of a kindness revolution and it would certainly be beneficial for society as a whole if, once the pandemic is over, we could count increased kindness among the myriad effects the crisis leaves us with.

The Mental Health Foundation proposes that now is the time to re-imagine a more giving and kinder society that better protects our mental health.  

This new approach could be built into business decisions, government policy and official systems in a way that supports everyone’s mental health and also reduces discrimination and inequality.

The Foundation has compiled an inspiring and helpful guide to show the positive impact helping others can have on our own mental health. Read more here.

As Action Mental Health continues to focus on parenting as part of the #CovidWellbeingNI campaign, while promoting benefits of the Five Ways to Wellbeing, we’re urging mums and dads to encourage their children to take notice as we emerge from the lockdown – and beyond.

But what does it mean? Taking notice is a way of improving your mental wellbeing wherever you may be, right now. It means consciously bringing our mind’s attention and interest to the world around us and ourselves; what is going on externally to us and what is happening within us.

Taking notice means being present in the moment; observing what’s beautiful or unusual in the world. It means being aware of our thoughts and feelings as they arise, without getting lost in them. It means savouring the moment, learning a new skill, being thoughtful, attentive and appreciative of our actions.

Reduces worry, anxiety and depression

Numerous studies have shown that focusing too much on past events and worrying about the future can have a negative impact on our mental health and wellbeing. Obsessing about what’s past and what’s yet to come is strongly linked with common mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders and depression.

Why not open the conversation with your children about the benefits of Taking Notice, which can aid self awareness and promotepositive behaviour. Taking notice of the world around us can be something that we do during our everyday life. The key to taking notice is to be aware of what you’re doing, and trying to engage with it. Unlike, for example being active, taking notice is much more of a mental activity.

Taking Notice in your everyday life:

• walk around your neighbourhood
• spend time surrounded by nature
• try to see things with ‘new eyes’
• look for beauty in the unexpected: look out for colours, textures, shapes, reflections in water, shadows. Look down, look up, and look along
• get creative and take pictures

Taking Notice through Mindfulness

According to the New Economics Foundation, which devised the Five Ways of Wellbeing – which includes Taking Notice – mindfulness can prevent depression. It can also promote positive mental states; can help to self-regulate behaviour and heighten self-knowledge.

Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.

“It’s easy to stop noticing the world around us. It’s also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living ‘in our heads’ – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour,” he says.

“It’s about allowing ourselves to see the present moment clearly. When we do that, it can positively change the way we see ourselves and our lives.

“Mindfulness also allows us to become more aware of the stream of thoughts and feelings that we experience and to see how we can become entangled in that stream in ways that are not helpful,” he said.

Mindfulness is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a way to prevent depression in people who have had three or more bouts in the past.

Read more about mindfulness here and read about the number of mindfulness apps for children here.

Clients at Action Mental Health in Co Fermanagh are better connected during the continued phase of social distancing thanks to the generosity of a local charitable trust.

AMH New Horizons Fermanagh has been selected to receive a grant of £2500 to purchase 20 tablets for clients to enable them to connect with the charity’s support workers and pursue their vocational and recreational activities online. The grant was conferred through the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation.

Like much of the population, clients have been undertaking their courses and activities online since the lockdown began in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

A spokesperson for the Trust stated: “I am pleased to inform you that the trustees have decided to make a grant to you for £2,500 towards the purchase of 20 tablets, providing vocational and employment training for people with mental health needs and learning disabilities in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.”

Service Manager at AMH New Horizons Fermanagh, Caroline Ferguson was delighted to receive the grant.

“At no other time have our services been so needed within the community, to ensure that our clients feel that they are connected with their key workers and with each other. The restrictions of social distancing means staff and clients are not currently meeting at our branch in Drumcoo, Enniskillen, where clients would normally attend, so this means a great deal to all of us are we are very grateful.”

AMH New Horizons activities are operated through the “Working it Out” project, which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020, the Department for the Economy and the five NI Health & Social Care Trusts.

The AMH New Horizons activities the client participates in are operated through the “Working it Out” project, which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020, the Department for the Economy and the five NI Health & Social Care Trusts.

Keeping active helps support and promote good mental health and well-being. The benefits of exercise are well documented, with physical activity playing a huge role in keeping people’s minds healthy. On top of the advantages it offers our bodies, exercise also helps reduce stress and clear the mind.

As Action Mental Health this week focuses on parenting as part of the #CovidWellbeingNI campaign and the benefits of the Five Ways to Wellbeing, we’re urging mums and dads to encourage their children to keep active as we emerge from the lockdown – and beyond.

Adhering to social distancing guidelines, you can keep active whether by walking, running, cycling or by home workouts on YouTube. Even swimmers, who have to wait until August before they can take the plunge in swimming pools, are returning to the seas around our coast for their daily exercise.

The research proves it – exercise is good for you

People who exercise regularly often experience greater levels of well-being. Research has shown improvements in people suffering mild to moderate depression and that exercise is as effective as taking antidepressant medication – but without the side effects.

A recent study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that running for 15 minutes a day or walking for an hour reduces the risk of major depression by 26%. In addition to relieving depression symptoms, research also shows that maintaining an exercise schedule can prevent you from relapsing.

Exercise changes the brain in way that promotes feelings of calm and well-being, releases endorphins which energise your spirits and make you feel good. Exercise can also serve as a distraction, allowing you to find some quiet time to break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression.

Exercise is also a natural and effective anti-anxiety treatment. It relieves tension and stress, boosts physical and mental energy, and enhances well-being through the release of endorphins. Anything that gets you moving can help, but you’ll get a bigger benefit if you pay attention instead of zoning out.

Activity also helps relieve the physical symptoms of stress which can place a heavy burden of tension across your face, neck, and shoulders, leaving you with back or neck pain, or painful headaches. You may feel a tightness in your chest, a pounding pulse, or muscle cramps. You may also experience problems such as insomnia, heartburn, stomach ache, diarrhoea, or frequent urination. The worry and discomfort of all these physical symptoms can in turn lead to even more stress, creating a vicious cycle between your mind and body.

Regular exercise also aids:

• Higher levels of energy during the day and better sleep at night
• Sharper memories, greater positivity and feelings of being more relaxed and promotes higher self-esteem
• Mild to moderate depression as effectively as antidepressant medication—but without the side-effects
• Stronger resilience against unhealthy coping mechanisms like resorting to alcohol or drugs or other negative behaviours
• Stronger immune system

Other physical benefits of regular exercise include slashing the risks of getting certain diseases, up to:

• 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• 50% lower risk of colon cancer
• 20% lower risk of breast cancer
• 30% lower risk of early death
• 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis
• 68% lower risk of hip fracture
• 30% lower risk of falls (among older adults)
• 30% lower risk of depression
• 30% lower risk of dementia

For more information read The Help Guide’s helpful advice here

This is a key time for parents and carers of children after the Covid-19 crisis changed the way we live, removing us from our workplaces and our normal lives as well as isolating us from our loved ones.

Children of all ages have experienced a unique and dramatic upheaval to their routine like nothing before. Statutory exams were cancelled for the first time in recent memory, and uncertainly still prevails around the readiness of children facing the AQE Transfer tests this coming autumn.

Vitally important social networks were affected and even friendships fractured during the lockdown, and now, as we take tentative steps back into a new, socially-distant normal, anxiety has been heightened for many people. For some, the easing of lockdown might be as challenging for our mental health as when it started, especially among those of the most vulnerable who have been shielding.

Working aged people may be anxious about returning to work and placing their children back into childcare, while pupils and students can be fearful of returning to their educational institutions – it’s all an unchartered path we are taking at the moment.

Steering your children back to a new normal, based on social distancing, can be a difficult road to navigate for parents, but Action Mental Health’s MensSana team have been busy adapting their specialist services for online delivery during the lockdown.  It’s important to note that there is still much help to be found.

Action Mental Health’s project workers have been reminding parents and other carers, it is paramount that they look after their own mental health first before they can begin to help their young ones.

Like they say on aeroplanes: ‘Please fit your own oxygen mask before attempting to help others’.

There are a whole host of programmes designed by AMH which aim to foster greater mental health resilience across Northern Ireland society.

You can find out more about these programmes by visiting: https://www.amh.org.uk/services/menssana/

There is also a host of helpful information on the Covid Wellbeing NI site including a useful guide for parents

As well as other useful resources on relationships

This week, as part of the #CovidWellbeingNI Partnership, we are encouraging parents to be aware of the signs of mental health issues in children and young people as we come out of lockdown.

AMH MensSana works with parents and carers, teaching them to recognise mental health issues that children and young people in their care may be facing.

Action Mental Health is warning that there could be an increase in mental health issues faced by children and young people as we deal with the fallout of lockdown and its impact on our younger generations.

We’re urging parents and carers to spot the signs of mental ill health such as:

• Persistent sadness — two or more weeks.
• Withdrawing from or avoiding social interactions.
• Hurting oneself or talking about hurting oneself.
• Talking about death or suicide.
• Outbursts or extreme irritability.
• Out-of-control behaviour that can be harmful.
• Excessive worrying or fear.
• Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning.
• Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria.

One tried and test approach towards promoting your overall well-being is the Five Ways to Well-being, which everyone of all ages can take as a mental ‘five-a-day’. The steps remind us to:

• Stay Connected,
• Be Active
• Keep Learning
• Take Notice
• Give

Further advice and support can be found on the CovidWellbeing NI website which the AMH is contributing to in partnership with 15 other mental health charities, as well as the Public Health Agency and the Departments for Communities and Health.

Operations Manager of Resilience and Wellbeing, Amanda Jones said:

“Lockdown has been a rollercoaster for most adults, so it’s important we don’t forget that it will also have had very significant impacts on our children and young people. Many of them left school without any sense of closure or being able to say goodbye to friends and teachers.

“ Children may carry these burdens and it may have a detrimental impact on them.

“As many of us try to balance home-schooling, childcare and working at home, it is important that we support parents and carers to look out for signs of mental ill health and encourage them to talk to children and young people about these issues.

“Empowering parents to broach issues like this can help mitigate against the very worst impacts of this virus on our collective mental health and wellbeing. Through honest conversations and acknowledging thoughts and feelings, children and young people can become more aware of emotional health and may engage more with the idea of wellbeing.

“Action Mental Health are very aware that the long term impacts of the global health crisis may not be known for a long time, but we know children and young people will face significant issues as a result of the legacy of Covid-19, we need to act now to protect against this.

“The enormous shift in life for many will have major impacts moving forward. Services including the Covid Wellbeing NI Hub are good resources for mental health coping strategies and should be utilised to help both parents and the young people and children they are looking after.”

Follow us all week on our social media channels for more tips!

AMH services across Northern Ireland are beginning the process of gradually re-opening.

Clients in AMH New Horizons Fermanagh who returned to the service this week were delighted to meet up with friends and have an opportunity to take a trip into the countryside to Correlea Activity Centre. They spent the morning reconnecting with nature on the banks of Lough Mc Nean, and competing with each other in an enthusiastic archery session, finding the experience the perfect antidote to lockdown fever.

AMH New Horizons activities operate through the “Working it Out” project, which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020, the Department for the Economy and the five NI Health & Social Care Trusts.

The pictures below capture some of the fun clients got to share after their recent absence from each other.

A message from our Chief Executive, David Babington.

The last few months have been an extremely challenging time for everyone in our society. As an organisation we are very much aware of the additional pressures that this period has brought for our clients.

In a recent survey carried out across our services the vast majority of clients expressed their desire to see a return to face-to-face support as soon as it is safe to do so. With that in mind, I am delighted to be able to announce that we are beginning that process. We are gradually re-opening our New Horizons sites to allow for a blended approach to learning and support. We also recognise that this will not be possible for all clients, so please rest assured that remote support will continue to be in place alongside face-to-face delivery.

Action Mental Health is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our clients and the staff who are there for them and as such significant work has been put into ensuring all sites are safe and compliant with relevant guidelines. We will continue to monitor and adhere to all public health guidance as we move forward.
We will also continue to provide regular updates, in what is uncharted territory for us all.

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt thanks to you, for your ongoing support, patience and understanding during this time.  I would also like to pay tribute to my AMH colleagues, who have worked tirelessly through these turbulent times. Their dedication and commitment to our clients and beneficiaries has been clear to see.

I look forward to seeing our services return to full normality, as soon as it is safe to do so.

In the meantime, please do stay safe and continue to follow the Public Health Agency guidelines.

Best wishes,

David Babington