Aberdeenshire to hold mental wellbeing festival

A festival of events and activities to promote mental wellbeing will take place in Aberdeenshire next week.

NHS Grampian is supporting the week-long festival alongside several community and third sector groups to offer over 100 events in the area, including art therapy, music classes and adult learning opportunities.

Previous years have seen individual separate events but this is the first year they have been collated into a single festival.

RELATED CONTENT

Experience of mental health services improved over decade

Scottish mental health video goes viral

Writing a new recovery service

Calvin Little, public health coordinator in Buchan for NHS Grampian, said: “We would encourage everyone to get involved, whether you’ve been affected by mental health challenges or not. By taking positive steps to build healthy wellbeing habits now, you can help stay on top of your mental health over the longer term.”

Sara Kamrath, Operations Manager with Mental Health Aberdeen, said the festival would focus on the importance of relationships in maintaining mental health.

“Most people recognize that a healthy diet and exercise are good for our physical and mental wellbeing but strong social relationships and networks are equally important, possibly even more so, in improving mental wellbeing.”

 “Being involved, creative, connected and learning new things are all very important to our mental health. The festival offers a wide variety of events based around being active, staying connected, eating healthily and maintaining a healthy mind.”

The festival runs from the 16th to the 22nd of May