Mental Health Awareness week at King’s House in Bournemouth

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 ran from the 10th to the 16th of May 2021 and while Together overall had our theme of peer support the services we have around the country made their own plans individually together with service users. One of the services to do that was King’s House Accommodation Service in Bournemouth who had a selection of activities based on 5 principles that help with mental wellbeing:

  • Concentrating on giving
  • Learning
  • Noticing
  • Connecting
  • Keeping active

The team planned out activities for each day of the week in conjunction with residents which can be seen below:

One of the first initiatives on Monday was for service users to make a point of giving a compliment to someone because of how that can make others feel and a selection of those are below with names kept to initials for confidentiality:

  1. BS wanted to thank a member of staff for helping her clean and tidy her room
  2. DS wanted to thank all the staff at King’s House for the help they’ve provided over the past year
  3. RH told RK that he is a good bloke and a good friend
  4. TO appreciates the help all the staff at King’s House have given her over the past year
  5. PY thanked all the staff and residents for being his friends
  6. PH was thankful to staff for keeping him safe

Next up on Tuesday staff and residents moved to learning and tried to learn something new they could do. One of the residents did this by learning how to make fruit cake and doing this for the first time.

The cake could then be used for the regular King’s House Coffee morning which happened the following day on Wednesday and it certainly looks tasty.

Some further learning was undertaken by another resident researched some interesting information on seagulls and then presented that to the other people living at the project to share that learning. The week concluded with a noticing nature drive into the countryside and a walk (pictured below) followed by a mediation on mindfulness on the Friday around the theme of noticing clarity.