Pharmacy teams can encourage customers step into nature for Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

It’s time to nurture with nature. The positive impact of the great outdoors on managing mental health problems and protecting wellbeing is increasingly well known.

According to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), getting out into nature has been one of the most effective and popular ways in which people have tried to sustain good mental health throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with 45 per cent of people reporting that being in green spaces had been vital for their mental health.

In addition, websites showing footage from webcams of wildlife saw hits increase by over 2,000 per cent during the national lockdowns, which also highlights the growing demand, as well as the importance of having access to nature and all the good things it offers.

State of play

Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event that urges the UK to focus on taking steps to achieve good mental health. The MHF started the campaign 21 years ago with the aim of enabling conversations about mental health and how it can be affected day to day.

Throughout the pandemic, countless statistics have emerged revealing the decline of the UK’s collective mental health. For example, an Ipsos Mori poll of 1,065 British adults, published on 13 January 2021, found that six in 10 adults aged 18-75 years found it harder to stay positive than before the pandemic – an eight-point increase since the November lockdown and the highest since Ipsos Mori started tracking the nation’s wellbeing during the pandemic. Many people also reported finding it difficult to stay positive about the future, with just 45 per cent expecting life to return to normal in 2021.

Because of this, this Mental Health Awareness Week couldn’t be more important, and pharmacy teams have a health and social responsibility to help to raise awareness and support mental health in their communities.

For this year’s campaign, the MHF wants as many people as possible, including individuals, communities and governments, to think about connecting with nature and how nature can improve mental health. After all, it’s a free resource offering a multitude of experiences and benefits. “Nature is our great untapped resource for a mentally healthy future,” says Mark Rowland, chief executive of the MHF.

Improving access

Despite many people recognising the benefits of nature for mental health, many are without private access to it, with around 13 per cent of UK households having no garden. Many people find it hard to access nature because of the location of their home – perhaps in a city centre – or because they have no outside space, but the MHF hopes to use the week to launch new policy requests to enable people greater access to nature. This may include making parks feel safer to use, planting more trees or asking developers to include plants and green spaces in their designs.

“We have two clear aims. Firstly, to inspire more people to connect with nature in new ways, noticing the impact that this connection can have for their mental health. Secondly, to convince decision makers at all levels that access to, and quality of nature, is a mental health and social justice issue as well as an environmental one,” says Mark. “2021 is going be a huge year for nature: a new Environment Bill will go through the UK Parliament that will shape the natural world for generations to come; the UK will host the G7 nations where creating a greener future will be a key priority, and a historic international UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) will be hosted in Glasgow in November. There could not be a more important time to understand the links between nature and mental health.”

Raising awareness

This Mental Health Awareness Week, pharmacy teams can encourage customers to make their mental health a priority, get out and connect with nature, even if that just means taking the time to go for a walk, water houseplants or listen to bird song outside.

Passing on the MHF’s key messages can also be of use. These are:

• Experience nature: by taking the time to notice, recognise and grow connections to nature
• Share nature: by taking photos, videos or sound recordings and sharing them to inspire others using the hashtags #ConnectWithNature and #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
• Talk about nature: by encouraging people to have conversations with their families, in schools, workplaces and communities, like the pharmacy, to help encourage others to find new ways to connect with nature in their local environment.

The most important thing pharmacy teams can do is open up conversations about mental health in the pharmacy and help customers find new ways to explore nature. As the UK heads into spring and the weather continues to improve, pharmacy teams can suggest more customers get outside, the opening up of outdoor sports areas can also be great a way to get customers out into nature and improve mental wellbeing, as well as their physical health.