Sunday 10 October 2021 is World Mental Health Day. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of mental health issues and the vast array of support available to our Service personnel and our community, whilst providing awareness on positive mental wellbeing and the support available both online and in the local area.
For those wishing to understand more about World Mental Health Day, including origins and resources then the following sites are a great place to start. World Health Organisation - Background and MIND - World MH Day Resources.
Closer to home, we have access to some user-friendly resources that I’d be grateful if you can share within your areas:
Oxfordshire MIND
Oxfordshire Mind are pleased to offer a range of free wellbeing courses, see list below, both online and face to face (adhering to social distancing).
For more information or to book a place on a course please use the following LINK.
Suicide Awareness Training
The ZSA Suicide Awareness Training :: Zero Suicide Alliance course takes just 30-40 minutes to compete. It is endorsed by the SMART Team and the Welfare Development Team at Air Cmd. It is user-friendly, accessible to all and works through both Google Chrome or personal devices. Please have a look, pass it on to others and encourage conversation about the content of it within your AORs.
Resources and Help
An array of mental health support is available through the command chain, welfare teams, Human Resources staff, medical centres, SSAFA, Chaplains and through the RAF Mental Health Network. Sharing insights, stories, and experiences through both the RAF Mental Health Network and the RAF Time To Change Network can help inspire hope in those who are struggling that they can get through periods of distress or crisis. These networks, along with the roll-out of the new Thriving at Work training for all RAF personnel and Air Civil Servants, aims to reduce stigma, raise awareness, build resilience and support early help-seeking behaviour through a range of expert services.
The RAF continues to improve accessibility to specialist support and other welfare services through a variety of digital resources. The RAF Health and Wellbeing (Sharepoint only) and the RAF Families Federation websites offer a range of tools, resources and useful links. The new Defence mental wellbeing toolkit, HeadFIT, is a useful digital source of support and information. Similarly, our charities such as SSAFA provide confidential and independent emotional and practical support to all RAF personnel and their families via its 24/7 helpline and station workers, and the RAF Benevolent Fund offers free access to the mindfulness app Headspace and its Wellbeing Zone that is available for all the RAF Family, covering topics such as resilience, nutrition, physical and mental health and self-help programmes. Furthermore, the RAF Benevolent Fund also provides a 24/7 emotional support helpline for all adults within the RAF Family, as well as its Listening and Counselling Service. In addition, the Royal Air Forces Association provides an online version of its ‘Finding It Tough’ mental wellbeing training called ‘mini-FIT’ which is available via Microsoft Teams online each Monday to Thursday afternoon.
Mental health support resources that are available to our personnel include:
- HeadFIT
- The Samaritans
- Togetherall
- Headspace
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) App (Sharepoint only) and the EAP helpline: 0800 345 7047
- The Charity for Civil Servants Tel: 0800 056 2424
- The RAF Benevolent Fund: Emotional Support
- Health & Wellbeing Portal (DefNet only)
As part of World Mental Health Day (WMHD) on 10 Oct 21, Public Health England (PHE) has produced a range of supporting materials which can be found at on the PHE Campaign Resource Centre. Meanwhile, please note that the MoD call to action is via HeadFIT (AFP) with alternative resources available at Every Mind Matters (civilian personnel).
Why raising awareness is so important:
- Research shows that since the start of the pandemic there has been an increase in a range of mental health conditions for adults and children, from low mood, sleep problems and anxiety to depression.
- To combat this there are things we can all do to look after our mental wellbeing and the Every Mind Matters Mind Plan can provide NHS approved personalised advice on positive steps people can take. The Mind Plan tool can be incorporated into web pages – instructions to help do that can be found here.
- There is also Every Mind Matters content on NHS.uk providing advice on dealing with anxiety, low mood, stress, sleep, as well as updated advice on coronavirus for parents and children and young people.
Personal Support are the primary HR POC on Stn that can offer advice and signposting to LMs. Contact details and further information can be found on Service Discipline & Personal Support (Sharepoint only).
