Wellbeing

Mental Health Awareness and Financial Anxiety

The Wellbeing working group has undertaken a wide range of work in recent times and it is currently developing a programme of activity for the 2023/2024 academic year. Work planned includes exploring physical health, compassionate leadership and being able to bring your whole self to work. There are a number of activities being planned across all strands and we are always seeking people to support the work of each strand of activity. If you would like to be involved, please contact Robin Webber-Jones via email at rwebber-jones@bedford.ac.uk

One of the key strands of work focuses on mental health.

With Mental Health Awareness week held in May under the theme of anxiety, it is clear that the ongoing ‘cost of living crisis’ is raising levels of anxiety in all of us to some degree or another.

The Mental Health Foundation recently carried out a survey on “stress, anxiety and hopelessness over personal finances”. Results showed that a quarter of adults felt so anxious that it stopped them doing things they wanted to, some or all of the time, and six in ten felt the same at least some of the time.

With the current situation not showing any signs of immediate change, the Foundation have issued a number of resources and links to support people. Here are a few of the key ones:

The Cost of Living and your Mental Health https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/exploremental-health/blogs/cost-living-and-yourmental-health

Help for Households https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/

Working Out Your Budget https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-andmoney/budgeting/budgeting/work-out-yourbudget/

Cooking on a Budget https://www.bda.uk.com/food-health/letsget-cooking/cooking-at-home/cooking-on-abudget.html

Preventing Mental Health Problems https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/exploremental-health/a-z-topics/prevention-andmental-health

Source: The Mental Health Foundation www.mentalhealth.org. uk