The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) believe we urgently need a greater focus on the quality of our relationships.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2016 takes place from 16-22 May, with the theme of relationships.
We all need to understand just how fundamental relationships are to our health and wellbeing. We are lobbying national governments, public bodies and employers to promote good relationships and to tackle the barriers to forming them, including mounting pressures on work–life balance and the impact of bullying and unhealthy relationships. But we have a challenge for the public too. We are asking everyone to go the extra mile in prioritising their relationships. We are calling on people to make a relationship resolution: to assess how much time we actively commit to building and maintaining good relationships, and to ask whether we can invest more in being present with and listening to friends, family and colleagues.
We cannot flourish as individuals and communities without them. In fact, they are as vital as better-established lifestyle factors, such as eating well, exercising more and stopping smoking.