The residents of Primrose Croft Care Home took part in Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) last week and especially enjoyed engaging with this year’s connected theme, nature.
Mental Health Awareness Week aims at spreading awareness of mental health conditions, providing information to those who struggle with their mental health, and offers advice about how to maintain good mental health. Each year, the Mental Health Foundation who are behind the annual celebration, choose a theme to base the week around that has proven benefits to mental health. This year, it was all about getting closer to nature and the benefits a person can receive from spending time outdoors.
At Primrose Croft Care Home, they took part throughout the week and engaged in many activities connected to the theme of nature.
To start the week off, residents and team members discussed the importance of talking to each other and how they feel. They said how talking to each other can help shed fears and anxiety, and how doing things you enjoy also helps to combat negative feelings.
Using the care home’s tiny tablet device, the group then watched and listened to a variety of nature-inspired, picturesque films with relaxing background music. Mary, who lives at Primrose Croft, said she was flabbergasted by the scenery and how rich all the colors looked. They enjoyed closing their eyes and listening to the sounds of nature, which included the sounds of birds chirping, water rippling, and rainfall. Everyone found this to be very relaxing!
The group also watched some clips of a show called animal magic, in which Johnny Morris narrates over some animal scenes in a comical way. There was lots of laughter and smiles which was good for everyone’s wellbeing and mental health.
Another activity the residents enjoyed later in the week, was a peaceful session in which they were asked to close their eyes and picture being beside the sea. Lifestyle and Wellbeing Lead Pearl, then narrated in a soft voice, asking residents to listen to the waves, feel the first wave of sea floating over their feet, feel the hot sunshine on their face, and lots of other instructions relating to being at the beach. This transported residents to their favourite seaside towns and after the activity, they each commented on how soothing and relaxing they found this to be.
Celebrating MHAW week really helped the residents of Primrose Croft to understand how important it is to maintain your mental health and the role that nature can play in this!