Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week

The 8-14th of May is Mental Health Awareness Week – a national campaign to help end the stigma surrounding mental health. A recent survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that nearly two-thirds of people say that they have experienced a mental health problem, and mental health is a cause very close to ParkCloud's heart.

ParkCloud firstly ensures the office is an open and safe space for those suffering with mental health issues, and secondly by working with local charity Stockport Mind -

"At Stockport Mind we support local people around their mental health. The people we support possess a very wide range of experiences, impacting factors and coping strategies, which vary from person to person. Our mental health can be affected by so many different things, such as family circumstances, bereavement, social isolation, traumatic incidents, poverty, stressful environments and much more."

ParkCloud has worked with Stockport Mind for the previous two 'Parking Day's – two events which have seen fantastic attendance, money raised for Stockport Mind and awareness and discussions about mental health.

As well as working to fundraise money for Stockport Mind, ParkCloud have also invited them into our office for talks, tips and advice on mental health in the workplace. This lead ParkCloud to run weekly yoga sessions in the ParkCloud office – a mind-body exercise that is great for relieving stress, anxiety and depression.

Another important thing for ParkCloud to consider is mental health and travelling. As we work in the travel sector, it's important for us to take into consideration the difficulty some people have with travelling. We spoke to Stockport Mind about this, and here's what they said -

"Travel is another thing some people we support find difficult - their mental health can be affected by travel, or their mental health might prohibit them from travelling by certain means. Some people we support have anxieties about getting on a bus or a train, for example, and part of the work we do is to encourage them to become more independent by working up to doing this. Travel can indeed be stressful for even the most resilient people at the best of times."

If planning every last detail can be some sort of relief for those who are anxious about travelling, ParkCloud hopes its booking platform for parking can be of some aid – although of course we understand what helps one person might not be the best for another.