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The mental health of our residents and staff is a massive priority for us at Beritaz Care and we are passionate about encouraging conversations around the topic of mental health!
Mental Health Awareness Week happens every year and is the perfect opportunity to educate yourself on mental health issues, check in with your loved ones and take some time to consider how you are addressing your own mental health.
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week event is “moving more for your mental health”, it promotes the benefits of exercise and movement on your mental health. This is something we are in full support of at Beritaz Care, having seen the positive impact that gentle exercise has on our residents’ physical and mental health. Within our homes we use armchair exercises, games and dancing, to encourage our residents to move their bodies in a gentle and accessible way. It is always wonderful to see the happiness on our residents’ faces when they are having fun playing a ball game or dancing with our staff to their favourite songs. We also take any opportunity we can to take a walk outside, either around the local area or just around the garden, the combination of a nice walk and the fresh air has a really noticeable impact on our residents’ mental health.
In addition to exercise, much of our activities schedule is planned with the goal of benefiting our residents’ mental health and wellbeing. From creative activities aimed at providing a sense of calm and relaxation, to animal therapy sessions with a variety of adorable creatures, we are always looking for new ways to boost our residents’ moods and ensure we are supporting their mental health. Through these activities our residents also benefit from socialisation and companionship, from each other and our staff.
Through dedicated one-on-one time with residents, our staff are able to build close bonds and grow trust, which helps residents to feel comfortable coming to our staff to talk when there is anything on their minds. It isn’t just physical care but emotional care that our staff aim to provide. We strive to create an environment where our residents feel comfortable talking about how they feel.
As an employer, the mental health of our staff is also a major concern for us. We always encourage our staff to prioritise their mental health and do anything we can to support them in this. Our staff know they can always speak to someone if they are struggling in any way, need some extra help or simply if they want to talk, whether it is to do with their personal or professional lives.
Both as a care provider and an employer we think mental health should be a top priority. So whether, it’s through exercise, self-care, simply taking some down time or speaking to a mental health professional, we encourage everyone to do whatever they need to do to take care of their mental health.
There are some fantastic resources available through the Mental Health Foundation, to help those struggling with stress, depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions. To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week and how you can get involved, visit https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week