Flourishing for everyBODY

Media Release
September 30

Flourishing for everyBODY, Mental Health Awareness Week.

Mental Health Awareness Week begins Monday 4 October and the Mental Health Foundation is encouraging everyone to focus on the positive aspects of life and the communities around them.

The theme for this year’s awareness week is ‘Flourishing for everyBODY’. In development over the last decade, flourishing can be used to determine the level of positive mental health in populations. When someone is flourishing they experience a full range of emotions, interest and engagement with the world around them. They also feel more meaning and pupose in their lives nd evidence suggests thatpeople who are flourishing are less at risk of physical and mental health problems.

“The Mental Health Foundation’s vision is a society where all people flourish” says Judi Clements, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation. “As we work towards this we hope to see an increase in the number of positive relationships throughout our communities leading to an improvement in individual’s mental wellbeing”

Throughout the week the Mental Health Foundation will be releasing articles highlighting seven New Zealand communities that have seen the benefits of flourishing. These projects include the Whangarei Quarry Gardens, Lyttelton’s Timebank, Porirua Community Guardians and the work of the Clendon Residents Group.

Mental Health Awareness Week also sees a number of exciting events being held over the week throughout New Zealand and a calendar of these events, well as supporting information on the theme, can be found at the Foundation’s website – www.mentalhealth.org.nz

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 4 – 10 October, 2010 and is endorsed by the World Federation for Mental Health and marked in over 150 countries.

World Mental Health Day takes place on Sunday October 10.

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