World Mental Health Day is taking place on Sunday 10th October and is dedicated to raising awareness and challenging the stigma surrounding mental health. At Excelcare, we wanted to honour and emphasise the importance of good mental health, so we have decided to share stories and advocate for mental health awareness all week.
Throughout the week, we are sharing stories from people in the Excelcare family, where doing one thing that has made a difference to their own mental wellbeing.
Yesterday, we shared Cintia’s story and today, we share the story of Lily Weatherley, Receptionist at Castlemead Court Care Home in Milton Keynes. This is her story of when she did one thing that helped those around her.
“I have experienced Depression on and off for the last few years, so I try to be mindful of those around me and look out for when they are experiencing their own low moments.
I noticed that the peak of the pandemic was particularly hard on the wellbeing and mental health of my team members at Castlemead, so I set up some wellbeing sessions for everyone. We used these sessions to share stories of our own situations, as well as tips and strategies that we thought might help others around us.
The feedback that I received from my team was overwhelming, and the sessions brought about such a sense of togetherness. The pride I felt from bringing everyone together also helped with my own wellbeing and gave me the positive lift that I needed.
Sometimes you need to get out of your own head and into someone else’s for a bit, and this was my perfect opportunity to see that for myself. At this time, feeling valued and helping others with their mental health became my medicine, and gave me a real sense of self-worth and appreciation.”
We will be sharing the stories of people in the Excelcare family on our website and on Facebook throughout the week, in the hope that we can expand the conversations that we are having surrounding mental health.