With Mental Health Month and Mental Health Action Day arriving in May, it’s time to brainstorm ideas for promoting mental health awareness. Use this year’s theme – anxiety – as a distinct focus or angle for your event, or incorporate a wider spectrum of mental health topics.

Check out these Mental Health Awareness Month activities that can both entertain and provide a real service to others.

Ideas for promoting mental health awareness in the community

Almost everyone knows someone who’s struggled with anxiety or depression. Scale up your events and extend your reach with these ideas for community mental health events.

1. Host a breakfast or morning tea

Invite a psychologist or mental health professional to lead a discussion over bagels and hot drinks, providing tips and techniques for handling stress, anger and more. Making it a weekly or monthly series, with a different topic for each event, can help you appeal to busy attendees.

2. Host a mental health seminar

Use a seminar-organising checklist to help gather a panel of psychologists, therapists or other mental health professionals to inform your audience about symptoms and warning signs of mental illness. Often, workplaces or schools will be happy to provide space for events geared toward their employees or students, so contact facilities management about potential venues.

3. Raise some funds

Find a local organisation providing services for mental health and make your event a fundraiser. Partner with a mental health service for veterans or those who are incarcerated, or promote a clinic that treats eating disorders. There are a number of effective activities for your fundraiser such as:

  • Fun run/walk
  • Auction
  • Gala
  • Rummage sale

4. Host a film screening

Screen a mental health-themed film or documentary to engage your audience, then follow it up with a Q&A or a discussion led by a psychologist or counsellor. Choose from popular Hollywood titles like “Silver Linings Playbook,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “A Beautiful Mind,” or go for a lesser-known documentary, such as “Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency”, about the mental health crisis among young men in the UK.

5. Help in a crisis

Knowing what to do in a crisis can be lifesaving. Set up a crisis-training course to equip community leaders on how to handle any mental health crisis such as depression, trauma, suicidal thoughts and alcohol or substance abuse. Coordinate with a clinic or hospital for guidance and to increase your reach.

6. Host an event for Mental Health Action Day

Mental Health Action Day is set aside for activities focused on improving mental health. Consider featuring activities that relieve stress and uplift the spirit such as:

  • Yoga or similar physical exercise that relieves tension and tightness
  • Meditation or observance of silence for an extended period of time
  • Share sessions led by a therapist or counsellor

Think of ways to make your event as accessible as possible, whether that means making accommodations for attendees who use a wheelchair or offering a virtual component so that those who prefer to stay at home can still enjoy the event.

Inviting a well-respected psychologist from a local hospital or using materials from nationally recognised organisations can give your audience the assurance that the information they receive at your event is trustworthy and accurate. The Mental Health Action Day site offers excellent guidance on event dos and don’ts.

7. Host a dance party

A dance party can change up the usual mental health-focused fare. You can even host a virtual dance party, with participants joining in the fun from afar. Or be like Ecstatic Dance UK, which goes one step further by offering optional add-ons like saunas, plant-based food and even a plunge pool experience after the dance party. The effect of cold plunges is currently being explored, with some experts finding positive correlations between extreme changes in body temperature and mental health.

8. Bring in the pets

Finding ways to include furry friends in your Mental Health Awareness Month activities is always a popular idea and confers real mental health benefits. Consider:

  • Hosting a morning tea for pets, with treats for pets and their owners alike
  • Organising a trip to an animal shelter or rescue facility for volunteer work
  • Visiting a petting zoo or a farm that allows you to milk the cows

9. Get social

Organise events geared to get guests interacting, such as speed dating for friends, or gatherings based on shared interests, such as crafting, knitting or gaming. Consider making your event hybrid or fully virtual, as virtual social events can be especially effective at helping those confined to their homes get valuable social engagement.

10. Organise a tree planting day

Give back to the planet and encourage mental health all at once. Contact a city or county park about tree planting permits or requirements and coordinate with a local nursery or tree farm about obtaining the necessary saplings.

Workshop ideas for mental health awareness

Designing workshops around improving mental health combines awareness with action to protect against depression and stress and to improve mindfulness and serenity. These workshops work well as mental health awareness virtual events, allowing anyone with an internet connection to participate in the workshop and improve their own condition.

11. Host a stress-reduction workshop

Stress is perhaps one of the most common mental health afflictions, so a workshop dedicated to resolving it can have an outsized impact. Help attendees identify stressors and reduce tension by including stress-relieving activities like:

  • Physical activity, such as dance, athletics or exercise
  • Organising items, such as multicoloured pins or patterns
  • Silent meditation or repeating mantras for extended periods of time
  • Laughing
  • Yoga sessions
  • Breathing exercises

12. Teach a cooking class

Consider offering a cooking class that teaches participants how to fix healthy meals and includes tricks for staying true to a healthy lifestyle. Diet choices can address mental health in a positive and proactive way. According to Harvard Medical School, foods that specifically benefit the brain include leafy vegetables, fatty fish, berries, walnuts and even tea and coffee, so be sure to feature foods that include these ingredients.

13. Host a yoga session

Yoga and physical exercise are excellent methods for relieving tension and stress, improving mood and enhancing mindfulness. Engage with a yoga teacher to lead your session, which can be held in a gym or studio or, if the weather permits, at a park or beach under the warm and replenishing sun.

Soul Dimension’s Awakening Yoga classes, however, are held online, allowing attendees to participate from the comfort of their own homes. Teacher Sylvie uses the Amrit posture sequence, which enables students to explore the deepest levels of body, mind and spirit with the integrative practices of clear intention, breath, meditative awareness and conscious integration.

Use Mental Health Awareness Month as a way to encourage newcomers to try yoga by first organising a “try-out” session. Then keep the momentum going by promoting ongoing sessions that can help your attendees maintain physical and mental health throughout the year.

14. Meditation and mindfulness

Meditation is renowned for its calming effect and the way it reduces stress. And since stress is a key factor in driving anxiety and depression, practising meditation and mindfulness can significantly affect your mental health. Include meditation as part of a range of health-oriented activities at a spiritual retreat. Make it a standing appointment for greater impact – Inner Wisdom Monthly Meditation in holds multiple regular classes, both online and in-person at different venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow. This allows meditation to become a healthy habit for eventgoers.  

While this involves stillness and quiet, mindfulness can be practised alongside a wide range of activities including:

  • Colouring, whether it’s crayons and a colouring book or paints and a canvas
  • Walking meditation, such as a walk around a park
  • Eating, allowing yourself to reflect on the flavours and textures of your food
  • Gardening, including vegetable gardens, flower gardens, or both

15. Showing gratitude

Studies have shown that those who express gratitude regularly generally have a more positive outlook on life and less depression. Consider offering a workshop that explores various ways of building gratitude – such as journaling, meditating and expressing thanks to those around you. Include blank journals and fresh pens to distribute to attendees to get them started.

16. DIY

Set up a workshop that enables participants to develop DIY skills that build their creativity. Be sure to provide any necessary tools and supplies and don’t forget to take photographs to showcase the new creations. Or, make it a virtual or hybrid event – simply ship the required materials to registered online participants before the event so everyone can participate. Choose from a wide range of crafts and skills to feature including:

  • Woodworking
  • Jewellery making
  • Candle making
  • Wax carving
  • Lino printmaking
  • Sewing
  • Knitting and needlework

Make a difference this Mental Health Awareness Month

Ultimately, Mental Health Awareness Month and Mental Health Action Day offer excellent opportunities for event creators to make a real difference in the lives of eventgoers. Use Eventbrite to put your event together quickly and easily, with an array of tools and features that make it simple to organise and market your events.