World Mental Health Day is Thursday the 10th of October

Mental health problems exist in our lives, families, workplaces and communities, impacting everyone. We all have mental health.

WMHD is a chance to talk about mental health in general, how we need to look after it, and how important it is to talk about things and get help if you are struggling.

Mental Health in the Workplace

This year’s theme is mental health in the workplace.

• In 2022, mental health was the 5th most common reason given for sickness absence, accounting for 7.9% of occurrences.
• Mental ill health is now the most common cause of work-limiting conditions among those aged 44 years and younger.
• Over the past decade, the number of workers aged 16–34 years who reported that their mental health limits the type or amount of work they can do has more than quadrupled.
• In 2022/23, there were an estimated 875,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 17.1 million working days lost.

Supporting Bedfordshire’s Wellbeing

Our Social Prescribing Team is always available to support Bedfordshire residents in various aspects of wellbeing. Our friendly team can offer independent support if your mental health is suffering at work and put you in touch with services and resources which can help.  You can self-refer online at any time.

Connecting to nature

If you have a stressful job, then connecting to nature can help improve your mental health and help reduce feelings of anxiety. Visit our Green Wellbeing pages to find ways to spend time in nature close to you, including places to visit, Wellbeing Walks, community gardens and conservation volunteering.

Beds RCC Wellbeing Group

At Beds RCC we are committed to ensure that we are a healthy place where peoples’ mental health and wellbeing can flourish.  We have a well-established wellbeing group which encourages staff to get involved in wellbeing activities and is a point of contact if people want to talk privately about a work wellbeing concern.