Launch New Awareness Campaign for Mental Health
LJMU’s Student Union Launch New Awareness Campaign for Mental Health
By George Newell (@GNJournalism)
The Students’ Union at Liverpool John Moores University is encouraging students to exercise more in lockdown to help raise awareness for mental health.
The “You Are Not Alone” campaign was launched after 24% of adults said they had feelings of loneliness, in a recent UK survey.
As a result, the Students’ Union is challenging students to walk, run or cycle a total of 5991.6km by March; this figure reflects 24% of the number of LJMU students.
Although not essential, students are also being encouraged to donate to Mind, one of the UK’s leading mental health charities, where possible.
One student who has eagerly got involved in the campaign is Ped Tavakolli, Vice-Captain of the university’s mixed martial arts (MMA) club.
He said: “If everyone participates, we can hit our goal easily.”
Tavakolli continued: “I think it’s good to be able to raise awareness of mental health for students.”
Tavakolli’s reasons for taking part in the campaign stem largely from him feeling the need for mental health to be a more prominent talking point in society: “Even if we didn’t have lockdown I think it’s such a good cause to get behind because a lot of young people get affected by mental health and it doesn’t get spoken enough about.”
He continued: “Until something really bad happens there’s not enough awareness and then it kind of goes away after two weeks and everyone goes back to normal.”
As vice-captain of one of LJMU’s fastest-growing sports Tavakolli recognises the number of benefits that exercise can have on mental health.
He said: “People don’t realise how important it actually is to some people being able to put your emotions into something else.”
Physical activity is in fact scientifically proven to help the brain produce endorphins, which are feel-good hormones that result in feeling better about yourself.
Exercise also increases the production of cortisol which is needed to help manage stress.
Although, there has been a gradual increase in mental health awareness in recent years the mixed martial artist feels that more still needs to be done and he believes campaigns like this will help to do so.
He said: “I think campaigns like this help to get this awareness out there and you should always be able to feel like you can speak to someone even if it’s your mate, your mum, or your dad.”
As we approach the two-week mark of the campaign it is Tavakolli’s MMA club that leads the group leader board with an impressive 300km already covered and the John Moores students look on track to reach their target to help promote this great cause.
N.B. If you would like to donate to Mind you can do so through the following link: https://www.mind.org.uk/donate
