Mental Health Awareness Week (10th-16th May) is a national annual event which provides the opportunity to focus on achieving good mental health. The university has lots of online and in-person events that you can take part in. The main aim of the cause is to provide a platform to share conversations around mental health, recognise the things in our daily lives that can affect it and to offer practical advice and support on how to improve mental health. The theme of this year’s campaign is 'Nature'.
Our latest Better Read reading challenge includes a book about nature. We’ve got some suggestions for you if you’re not sure what to choose. Reading for pleasure can be an effective form of stress relief, so take some time to settle down (indoors or outdoors!) with a good book. Our reading challenges are a great way to expand your reading horizons and discover some new favourites.
The university has a range of health and welfare support services, but did you know there’s also some self-help support available in the library? The Wellbeing Collection includes titles on managing stress, anxiety, ADHD, autism, OCD, eating disorders, insomnia, coping with abuse and more. Some of the titles are available as ebooks. There’s good evidence that bibliotherapy – using books for self-help therapy – can be very effective, so please take a look at the collection if you think you may be affected by any of the issues above.