Mental Health
Looking after each other’s mental health: faith groups on the frontline
A friend of mine began to experience some unusual symptoms. Chest pains. Difficulty sleeping. At one point, he felt like he was having a heart attack. Alongside this came feelings of stress in situations that wouldn’t normally have been stressful, and persistent unreasonable thoughts. There […]
Why young people need trusted adults
Young people will experience many different relationships throughout their teenage years; short lived friendships, ones that have been built on trust over a number of years and ones that will continue to grow throughout their adult lives. However, life in their final years at school, […]
Faith and sustainable development: what have we been doing?
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals are a way of focusing attention on the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. There are 17 in all, with targets set for each that should show progress by […]
Mental health: what’s your story?
We all have mental health. Some have great mental health, while, periodically, others struggle with their mental health. And all of this is perfectly normal. What is identity? Identity is who we are. It can be made up of our features – the way we […]
What does the budget mean for faith-based organisations?
The Chancellor Philip Hammond had to somehow make good this week on Theresa May’s announcement at the Conservative Party conference that austerity is coming to an end. The budget he has come up with – called ‘populist’ by some – is characterised by tax cuts […]
A connected society: the Government’s new strategy to tackle loneliness
Monday, the 16th of October; the day the Government announced A connected society – A strategy for tackling loneliness. A day that we hope will help to change the health and well-being of millions of adults and young people living in the UK. Prime Minister […]
Say it while you can! Kindness is a good response to poor mental health
This summer, I was faced with the tragic news that a friend had died, suddenly and unexpectedly. It would be fair to say the cause of death was a combination of depression, isolation, and a crushing of dreams. My grief was such that, in the […]
Pause, Breathe and Respond
At FaithAction we are always keen to hear of examples of mental health services and faith groups working together: something that connects with our Friendly Places initiative and our work with mental health charity Mind. In this guest blog, Don de Silva, a Buddhist university […]
What difference does awareness make?
Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week. What has this got to do with faith communities? Well, more than you might think. If one in four people experience some kind of difficulty with their mental health in any given year, then there’s no way that […]
Equipping faith groups to support people with mental health needs
Brighton and Hove Faith in Action (BHFA) is a multi-faith charity in Brighton that supports faith groups that deliver social welfare projects such as food banks, homeless shelters and mental health services. In 2016 we responded to a FaithAction newsletter item concerning a joint project with Mind. We collaborated with Mind in Brighton and Hove (MiBH) and applied for funding to offer mental health awareness training to local faith groups.