For last year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, we did a series of articles aimed at men’s mental health; those articles have since become some of our most-read blogs on the site. So this year we turned our attention to women-specific support groups and charities that are available to support women’s mental health. We are more than well aware that our mental health is paramount to our overall well-being, and if it’s not looked after, like our bodies, it can have detrimental and tragically sometimes fatal consequences.
Today a staggering 1 in 5 women suffer from common mental health problems such as anxiety, depression or self-harm. It’s so important to acknowledge when you are suffering from your mental health, it’s the first step to a happier and healthier you. In today’s article, we share with you a range of support groups and charities that can help you on your way to doing just that. They cover a number of topics and vary in their resources but most importantly all of them are there to support women’s mental health...
Core Arts
Their Mission: To support and promote recovery, social inclusion and mental well-being through the arts and enhance service user experience.
Established in 1992 Core Arts has been helping support people with their mental health through creative activities. Based in Hackney, London it promotes positive mental health and wellbeing in an educational environment. They offer a wide range of activities in numerous areas including arts, music, multimedia, horticulture and sports. With an offering of over 80 classes per week, they support self-directed projects in a professional environment, with a view to the people developing their skills and supporting their mental health in the process.
Beat
Their Mission: To end the pain and suffering caused by eating disorders.
Around 1.25 million people in the UK suffer from an eating disorder. Beat is an amazing charity that works with people struggling with these disorders that affect their quality of life and mental health. With their support and the right treatment, they aim to help people not only recover but thrive in a more stable lifestyle. They have a national Helpline where you can access help quickly 365 days of the year. They are there to listen to and support people through a difficult time whether that be yourself or a loved one. They also campaign to increase the knowledge of the many eating disorders that there are and for better funding for high-quality treatment so that more people can have access to the right treatments to aid recovery.
PND and Me
Their Mission: Connecting parents, health care professionals and voluntary sector workers to help and support the topics relating to parenthood and mental health.
PND Me was set up by Rosey who experienced both antenatal and postnatal depression with each of her three children. In 2013 she wrote a poem PNDandMe, and shortly after this started her #PNDHour on Twitter to support women who found themselves in the same situation. They connect with people each Wednesday between 8-9 pm and each week holds a different topic, all of them relating to parenthood and mental health and ways to help yourself overcome these anxieties and issues that parenthood brings.
Wish
Their Mission: Standing together to support women’s mental health through pioneering support services for under-served women and campaigning together for social justice.
Wish was founded in 1987 and is still going strong to this day! It was set up by a group of women with experience in the criminal justice and mental healthcare systems who joined forces with a view to making a change for women’s voices to be heard. This amazing group of women intimately understood just how poorly these systems dealt with women’s experiences and how traumatising that could be. They are a user-led charity with lots of experience putting its members first and giving them the opportunity to change their lives and be a part of the decision-making process within the charity
Menopause Matters
Their Mission: To provide all the correct information and support to women that are going through menopause.
Menopause Matters helps women going through the different stages of menopause. They provide information on what might happen leading up to menopause so you can spot the symptoms, and give tips and advice for during and after menopause too. It’s an award-winning independent website that can give you up-to-date and accurate information about what treatments are available and can help you to understand the consequences and symptoms of menopause and how to deal with them.
Gifted Women
Their Mission: Unlocking the door to employment for women experiencing multiple disadvantages.
Gifted Women works with women who lack opportunities due to a number of different reasons. Many of the people they help have a complex history of trauma and are caught up in a cycle of addiction, homelessness and crime, which often leads to poor mental health. A key part of their programme is the contacts that they work with, they have a whole host of employers available which gives women the opportunity to gain work experience places, putting their learning from the programme into practice. It’s run by skilled and passionate volunteers who give one-to-one support through this amazing 6 month programme and beyond!
IF YOU FOUND THESE WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH CHARITIES USEFUL, PIN THEM!
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