Supporting the mental health of our communities

It's been an extraordinarily difficult year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK, we have all spent a high proportion of our time confined to our homes to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Some of us have changed our working habits to work from home, while key workers have continued to put themselves at risk by going to their jobs every day to provide essential services for the UK population. Many have experienced a period of furlough, while a some individuals have lost their jobs. It's been an incredibly challenging time.

The successful rollout of the vaccination programme means that the end of the pandemic is in sight. Our physical health will be safer, and we can go back to living life as we did before – maybe with some positive changes that we've taken from this exceptional year. 

But what about our mental health?

For many, the pandemic has been a time of insecurity, worry and stress. A survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that over 20 per cent of people surveyed, and more than a third of people in full time work, were concerned about losing their job. One third of UK adults were concerned about their finances, e.g. paying bills and debt. The picture is even more serious for people who are unemployed. A quarter of unemployed people said they were not coping well with the impact of the pandemic, compared to just over a tenth of people in employment. One in ten people who are unemployed said that nothing had helped them cope with the impact of the pandemic.

In addition to this, because of the pandemic and associated lockdowns, we have plunged our young people into a very difficult time. For large proportion of 2020, their education was severely disrupted, and they were separated from their friends and classmates. A survey by Young Minds highlighted that 75 per cent of those surveyed found the second lockdown harder than the first, 67 per cent believing that the pandemic would have a long-term, negative impact on the their mental health because of bereavement, interrupted friendships and education.

Shining a light on mental health

Even before the pandemic, there was concern about mental health. So much so that current CIH president, Aileen Evans, committed to use the platform of her presidency to ‘shine a light’ on mental health in housing. In February 2020, we launched a guide to show how employers in social housing could support their staff to care for their own mental health.

In September 2020, we built on this work by launching a second guide, Supporting people with mental health problems. The guide focussed on some key areas of support, such as:

• Managing rent arrears
• Communicating effectively with tenants and residents
• Training staff
• Improving staff awareness of mental health needs; and
• Providing additional support to tenants experiencing mental health problems.

Working with Mind, one of the leading mental health charities, alongside a number of social landlords leading the way in providing innovative support for tenants and communities, the guide provides good practice advice and real-world examples of services providing excellent support with mental health and wellbeing.

As we leave what we hope was the worst of the pandemic behind us, it is essential that we support our communities with their mental health and wellbeing so that we can get back to living our lives well.

You can download Supporting people with mental health problems guide here.