Stress Awareness Month – how community support is vital for managing stress
Stress Awareness Month – how community support is vital for managing stress
With April marking Stress Awareness Month, organised by the Stress Management Society, we take a look at the effects of stress and what the amazing voluntary and community sector in Chesterfield is doing to help combat it.
Stress is something that affects us all. Sometimes it’s caused by the small things, and it can actually be a motivating factor in us achieving things in our daily lives, helping us to meet demands of home, work and family life.
When we are stressed, our bodies think we are under attack and go into ‘flight or fight’ mode and release a mix of hormones and chemicals, including adrenaline and cortisol, which prepare our bodies for action.
But when stress takes over in inappropriate situations, it can become all-consuming and can affect a person’s life immeasurably. The effects of stress can be emotional, physical and behavioural and can include being easily frustrated or moody, isolating yourself from friends and family, headaches, difficulty sleeping and chest pains or increased heart rate.
The last two years in particular have put an immense amount of pressure on people in ways that we never thought we would experience. Fears about our own and our loved ones’ health, worries about lockdowns and becoming isolated from the outside world, as well as adapting to new ways of working and managing daily life.
In fact, a study carried out by the Stress Management Society, revealed that 65 per cent of UK residents have felt more stressed since COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in March 2020.
That’s why, for the theme of this year’s Stress Awareness Month, the Stress Management Society has chosen the theme of ‘Community’ which focuses on how lack of support can cause loneliness and social isolation, which, in turn, can lead to poor mental health.
As the Stress Management Society says “As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s vital that the community support experienced by many people during this challenging time continues. Although restrictions have mainly been lifted, people need support now more than ever as they adjust to a new way of living.”
We have seen through a number of the community groups we work with in the area that people have relied more than ever on the support services available to them and they have provided a lifeline for people when they needed it the most.
New initiatives were launched in an attempt to counteract social isolation during lockdown, including the Tech Buddy Scheme from Derbyshire Recovery and Peer Support. The project paired volunteers with individuals who were not confident or were too anxious to use technology to ensure they were able to stay connected with friends, family and access online support.
EMH Care and Support, which has a base in Chesterfield, recognised a need to offer a befriending service to help people feeling lonely or isolated and who lack in confidence to go out on their own. They teamed up with Enrych, which supports adults living with a disability, poor mental health and those who are socially isolated, and have been able to support a number of their service users through the initiative.
In September last year, Derbyshire Voluntary Action (DVA) opened the Hub @ Low Pavement – a drop-in centre dedicated to bringing together our community and voluntary organisations. The Hub aims to be an inclusive, welcoming and friendly place for members of the public and for volunteer-led community groups, helping to promote better social connectedness and improved mental health and wellbeing.
We’re also really keen on promoting ways in which people can use nature connectedness and the outdoors to promote improved health and wellbeing, including as a way to reduce stress.
Research from the Mental Health Foundation has shown that spending time outdoors has been once of the key factors in enabling people to cope with the stress of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, 45 per cent of people in the UK told us that visiting green spaces, such as parks, helped them to cope.
Our project support officer Viv, is a huge advocate of nature connectedness and in her other life she works as a volunteer leader with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, meaning she reaps the benefits of spending time outdoors in green spaces with nature all around her.
You can read a previous blog from Viv here about what she gets up to in this role and how volunteering outdoors is a great way to boost your physical and mental fitness. And with Spring finally upon us, it’s a perfect chance to make the most of the beautiful outdoor spaces we have available to us in and around Chesterfield and find out for yourself the difference it can make to your wellbeing!
Here at Community Chesterfield, we’ve also recently been delivering a series of resilience training sessions from Beaumont Training both for members of our own team and people who work or volunteer at community and voluntary sector groups in Chesterfield.
The online course aims to give you strategies you need to deal with the ups and downs that life throws at you. It helps you to reduce your stress levels by learning how to focus on what you can change, rather than what you can’t and many of those who have been attending are already implementing the tactics in their daily lives!
We feel very fortunate here in Chesterfield that, thanks to a fantastic voluntary and community sector, many people who live with mental health problems are supported in such a great way. Please do remember, if you’re struggling to cope, there is always help available to you. Take a look at the NHS directory for services local to you and reach out.
You can read more about Stress Awareness Month here and find out about ways you can get involved yourself, including taking part in the ‘30 Day Challenge’.