Every mind matters
Campaign encourages people to look after their mental health
This week marks the start of the Public Health England (PHE) campaign- Every Mind Matters which runs until March next year. The campaign encourages everyone to look after their mental health, and offers a digital tool to provide people with a plan to improve and maintain their well being.
Over the past few month 119 EBC employees recently made a commitment to improve their physical and mental health by taking on the Virgin Pulse Global Challenge. Through goal setting and a sense of healthy competition the challengers achieved an average daily step count of 16,617. Taking on this challenge helped people to increase awareness of how they move, eat and feel, with 71% of participants reporting a decrease in their stress levels either at home or at work.
In teams of seven and supported by a global movement of 300,000 members around the world, employees embraced team work and clocked up 110,498km in their virtual journey around the world. Congratulations to all Global Challenge Participants who completed the task.
The Council also delivers Healthworks, a NHS Accredited physical activity referral scheme designed to provide opportunities for people to improve their health and become more active. Individuals are referred by their GP or other health care professional to the Healthworks scheme, in which they receive a reduced rate to use the facilities (gym/swim) at Places Leisure Eastleigh and Wildern Leisure Centre in Hedge End. There are referral criteria, with a diagnosed mental health disorder being one of these (stress/anxiety/depression).
The HealthWorks initiative ties in with the newly launched PHE campaign, Every Mind Matters, as it encourages people to be more active, helps to strengthen hearts, lower blood pressure and is also a good way to reduce stress.
As part of the launch of Every Mind Matters to take a quiz to get tips and advice for mental wellbeing.