I recently hosted a discussion for CILIP SW about what librarian and information professionals could do in their libraries to support Mental Health Awareness week.

This is the article that I wrote about our discussions, first published on CILIP SW’s blog.

Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from Monday 13 – Sunday 19 May 2024, with the theme, set by the Mental Health Foundation, as “Movement: moving for our mental health” so we recently held a Grab A Break virtual coffee meeting to share ideas about what libraries and librarians can do to get ready to support their staff and communities.

Mental Health support is becoming increasingly important in the UK, given that so many people are experiencing stress. The “Support for staff – Burnout” report, recently published, advises that 9 in 10 adults in the UK experienced high or extreme stress in the past year. You can read the report here https://euc7zxtct58.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/19145241/Mental-Health-UK_The-Burnout-Report-2024.pdf . It looks at the causes of chronic stress and gives valuable advice on how to prevent burnout.

As library staff, we may have obligations as employers to help to prevent stress and burnout in our teams, as well as having the opportunity to share information with our users and wider community about how to improve their mental health and happiness.

Some of the ideas shared for libraries which would be fairly easy to implement were:

• Displays of leaflets and books on the topic of mental health. As the theme this year is movement, displays could also include books about sports and physical movement.

• Events in the library such as yoga sessions, chair aerobics or guided walks starting/ending at the library. Introductory sessions which encourage those who mightn’t usually undertake exercise would be particularly valuable.

• Partnering with relevant organisations for events or displays. This could be Citizens Advice Bureau or local or national mental health charities. With the theme of movement, this could also be local gyms with offers for introductory sessions, local walking groups or similar organisations.

• Dance has recently been found to be the most successful treatment for depression (better than SSRIs or CBT, or other forms of exercise like jogging or walking), so any dance-related information you can promote is an excellent evidence-based way to support the community. You can read more here https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/dance-best-exercise-depression-b2501113.html

• Events which focus on mindfulness were popular. These can be focused on learning about mindfulness, meditation sessions, or activities which encourage a sense of “flow”, which is useful for practising mindfulness, such as knitting, jigsaws, crafts or colouring.

Some of the ideas shared which would need more planning were:

• Bringing animals into the library (such as dogs or rabbits). HE and FE libraries may already have a programme in place to bring support animals into the library around exam times for students, so this mightn’t be too much extra work in respect of risk assessments etc. An alpaca was even mentioned, but I’m not sure how easily that would translate to most libraries!
• Creating a library garden or community vegetable garden.
• We also had an interesting discussion about the value to our community’s mental wellness by promoting the library as a sanctuary and no-cost social space, offering conversation and community to those who needed it. We talked about the importance (if budgets allowed) of having sufficient desk staff so that there were human interactions available, not just self-service. If there was sufficient staffing, it would be ideal to have a “slow lane” option for those who wanted a longer chat with their withdrawals and renewals.

Lastly, other useful resources which would be helpful for planning MHA week promotions or general support for mental health were:

• The Happiness Calendar from Action for Happiness https://actionforhappiness.org/
• How to Look after your Mental Health using Exercise from the Mental Health Organisation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/how-look-after-your-mental-health-using-exercise

Hopefully some of these ideas are useful for you in preparing for Mental Health Awareness week in May. If you have other ideas, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.