Anxiety is the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023
Anxiety is a normal emotion in us all, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem.
Lots of things can lead to feelings of anxiety, including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) or other big life events. We can also get anxious when it comes to things to do with money and not being able to meet our basic needs, like heating our home or buying food. But anxiety can be made easier to manage.
Focusing on anxiety for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (15 May to 21 May) will increase people’s awareness and understanding of anxiety by providing information on the things that can help prevent it from becoming a problem. At the same time, we will keep up the pressure to demand change – making sure that improving mental health is a key priority for the government and society as a whole.
You may be looking to understand your own mental health better, or to support family members or friends. You may wish to develop a greater awareness of mental health issues as part of your continuing professional development. Or you may be a UNISON activist wanting to know how you can help members in your workplace and branch.
Whatever your prime concern, there is a multitude of learning resources available from UNISON Learning and from our partners.
Jump to:
- Taking care of yourself, friends, and family
- Mental health and continuing professional development
- Mental health learning for UNISON activists
Taking care of yourself, friends, and family
Books On Prescription
The Reading Agency has produced a list of ‘books on prescription’. These are a selection of accessible science and self-help books that have been recommended to help people cope with various difficult life situations.
Books On Prescription: mental health
Staying Strong: Stress Awareness
Our Staying Strong online course is based on our very popular stress awareness workshop. It explores some of the different forms of stress and the way that it can affect you, and introduces some techniques to help you deal with stress. You can work through it at your own pace and return to it whenever you like. You’ll find it on our e-learning site – use your My.UNISON account to log in.
Mental Health and Wellbeing workshops
UNISON’s regional education teams organise learning events all over the UK, responding to the particular needs in their area.
Over the last year, regional education teams have arranged workshops on topics including: mindfulness; coping with stress; managing mental health at work; and many more.
Contact the East Midlands education team for details
Mental health and continuing professional development
Many UNISON members’ work involves supporting other people directly. Whether that’s in the context of a school, a care home, a hospital, or any other environment, it’s likely that some of the people they work to support will experience mental health difficulties.
The Open University: Mental Health Awareness
We work with The Open University to offer mental health awareness workshops, which aim to help you: develop a greater awareness of mental health; understand the main mental health problems that people face; gain an insight into the experience of having mental distress; explore some strategies for promoting good mental health; and take a revised awareness to the workplace.
We run a limited number of workshops nationally, and UNISON regions also organise these workshops on an ad hoc basis. Contact your regional education team to find out if any are running near you.
Visit UNISON Learning’s national events page
Mental health learning for UNISON activists
Mental Health At Work
Our main mental health awareness course for UNISON activists is called Mental Health At Work. This can be run over one day or two and aims to:
- Examine what we mean by ‘mental health’
- Look at what employers can do to maintain mental health at work
- Identify some of the common signs and symptoms of poor mental health in the workplace
- Discuss and explore strategies for intervention and support for members experiencing mental ill health
- Understand what causes stress for us in our union roles
- Review strategies for coping with stress
Contact our regional education team to find out when they will next be running near you.
Mental Health resources for UNISON activists
UNISON also has a wealth of resources to help you work with the employer to support members. Download some of the most popular ones using the links below:
Mental Health Matters: guidance for branches
Bargaining On Mental Health Matters: a practical guide for UNISON branches