Cars, communities and well-being.

Cars, communities and well-being.

Whilst it has become increasingly more acceptable to open up about our mental health, for many it remains a struggle. But when times are tough, there is growing evidence that common interests – including a love of all things with wheels – can be instrumental to opening a conversation and recognising that it’s okay not to feel okay

Most people have a passion that compels them to engage with the world, be it quality time with their family, pursuing an interesting hobby, or following the fortunes of their favourite sports team. For others it’s the purr of an engine, the adrenaline rush of shifting into top gear on an open road or the freedom of escaping the rat race. Whether we realise it or not, we all identify and deploy mechanisms through which we manage our mental health.

For many, cars are simply a means of getting from A to B, but to petrolheads, they represent a lifelong passion, central to their place in society. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that for some, the opportunity to step away from the pressures of everyday life and become fully absorbed working with tools and engines can calm the mind and help to reduce overall levels of stress by providing a positive outlet that allows breathing space from their worries.

Fix Auto UK is the country's largest network of independently owned vehicle repair centres. Its Regional Business Manager, Carl Norton, has provided well over a hundred sessions of mental health training for its members and notes that 'finding those with like-minded interests' is the 'critical first step… to reach out to someone if you need support…so forget about that important email, call your mate and get on the spanners'.

Manufacturers have taken the concept one step further, with Volkswagen's director of e-mobility, Dustin Krausse, describing Electric Vehicles as a 'peaceful place to be' where you can provide 'time for yourself or to connect with others'. Think mindfulness on wheels.

Such trends can be traced back to the mental health challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, following which Ford developed a mindfulness concept car based on its Kuga range. Specially tailored features included ambient lighting that combined with climate control to provide specific moods in the cabin, such as a bright morning feeling, a calming blue sky or a starlit night, wearables streaming health data to the in-car screen and even a powernap function, providing a lay-flat seat and neck support for breaks on those long drives.

As tends to be the case, such features have found their way into mainstream production. Soothing sounds, lights, massaging seats and even pleasant scents have become common features on both standard and optional equipment lists.

Using a personal connection to cars as the starting point for improving mental health is by no means limited to the traditional motor industry, however.

Car meditation has recently and for example become ‘a thing’, transforming hours spent sitting in or driving your vehicle into an opportunity to promote wellness and relaxation. Examples of Apps include ‘Insight Timer’, with car themed content including mindfulness exercises to promote focus on the road or guided breathing exercises, and ‘Calm’, which includes a mood focussed 'Night Drive' playlist, designed to relax driver's minds but keep them alert and present. Even the leading science-based app, 'Headspace', has got in on the act, providing a variation of its home-based exercise content, which and for obvious safety reasons, is completed before turning the ignition key.

Exploring other ways to get the message out there, apparel brand Takoma’s clothing and accessories line includes the IOTT (It’s Okay To Talk) range, with logos designed with the aim of encouraging and normalising discussions about mental health and well-being, particularly between men, who are traditionally less likely to open up when experiencing such issues.

Founder Lewis Warren states on the company website that their design ethos ‘is to have automotive themes running throughout, to act as a talking point for anyone interested in cars. The more people talk, the more they engage, the more likely they are to feel comfortable in sharing their problems, and the less likely they are to suffer’.

On the global stage, ‘Drive Against Depression’ was conceived in Australia eight years ago, after founder Sarah Davis's husband, suffering from a range of personal issues, reached out to a friend and they began taking drives together as 'two mates, side by side, no judgment in a car that made them happy on a road they loved'. The resulting improvement in his state of mind was profound, and ‘DAD’ has since helped more than a thousand fellow car enthusiasts speak frankly about and address their own problems. Given that suicide remains the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK, the initiatives described above are crucial, and in the prescient words of the late Bob Hoskins - in a mid-1990s TV campaign specifically devised by BT to encourage men to communicate with each other more - 'it's good to talk'. 

Joel Leigh is the motoring correspondent of City Solicitor and a Partner at Howard Kennedy LLP