LEGO Helping Through Play. Mental Health Awareness Week 2020
LEGO Helping Through Play: Mental Health Awareness Week 2020
This week it is Mental Health Awareness Week, and one of the reasons I set up Brighton Bricks was how LEGO helps me with my mental health problems, and I know play can be a really important way of keeping a positive mental health wellbeing. We have done several events for previous mental health days (photos below)
If anyone is having mental health issues, I wanted to share a few links with useful information, which hopefully will help. One of the main things to remember is to talk, and not be silent. Talk to a friend, family member, or contact a organisation like The Samaritans, just talk.
For me personally I love LEGO as it helps me with my anxiety issues, it calms me down when I follow instructions. And that is also why I love LEGO as there is no wrong way to build, some people are set builders and enjoy seeing something being created step by step, and others are free builders, creating their own masterpieces and MOCS. You deal with LEGO the way you feel the most comfortable.
So here is some useful mental health information
NHS
Mental Health helplines
www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/
Mind
What can I do to help myself cope?
www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/what-can-i-do-to-help-myself-cope/
Mind in Brighton & Hove
www.mindcharity.co.uk/advice-information/
NHS Every Mind Matters
www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
They also do a Mind Plan quiz, where by answering 5 questions you can get top tips and advice for you.
www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/your-mind-plan-quiz/
Grassroots Suicide Prevention
Offering training so you can be better prepared and equipped to help someone in difficulty.
www.prevent-suicide.org.uk/training-courses/
And lastly I want to recommend one particular book
Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig
“What does it mean to feel truly alive?
Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living.
This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.
"I wrote this book because the oldest cliches remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it ...Words, just sometimes, really can set you free." - Matt Haig”
www.waterstones.com/book/reasons-to-stay-alive/matt-haig/9781782116820
If you have any advice or information or any other book recommendations which would be good to add to this list please let me know at nick@brightgreenpenguin.com
Thanks
Nick
