In 2024, England’s mental health services received 5.2 million referrals from GPs. That is a 37.9% increase on 2019 numbers (BMA).
Economic factors like the cost of living and high unemployment mean that many have simply not recovered from the loneliness and alienation caused by the 2020 lockdowns, and many others have found fresh struggles that are difficult to overcome.
Community and belonging are well-documented solutions for some common mental health problems, so your group is ideally placed to help those in need. Here is how, with tips for the most effective outreach and fellowship.
Teaching and learning practical skills
As the world drifts towards a remote and digital existence, people (and young people in particular) see fewer opportunities for social and professional interaction, or for gaining real-world skills. Using your kitchen to teach essential and highly practical skills like cooking can combat the detachment and purposelessness that risk people’s mental wellbeing.
In order to host classes that are fun, safe, and effective, your kitchen needs to be well-equipped. Deteriorating surfaces, clutter, and a drab environment do not make a pleasant or practical work area.
Ideally, you need a kitchen that will stand up to heavy use, is easy to keep hygienic, and is bright and welcoming. The best way to achieve that is to opt for a Zintec polyester powder-coated mild steel carcass, with a stainless-steel worktop. The carcass is wipe-clean and durable, while allowing a range of colours to help make the kitchen as bright and welcoming as possible.
The worktop makes it easy to maintain hygiene, by eliminating bacterial hotspots like deteriorating sealant, which harbours moisture and germs. The stainless stell means you can have a recessed and seamless-welded sink, and a folded rear upstand at all wall abutments, so no sealant is required.
Sharing meals and tackling loneliness
Loneliness causes and exacerbates many mental health struggles, but regular social fixtures can keep it at bay. As well as casual gatherings like coffee mornings, dinner events are a wonderful way to strengthen community bonds and make lasting connections between people.
Of course, you will need a kitchen that is capable of catering at scale. As well as durability and hygiene equipment is of course a vital element in that. If you’re not sure what equipment you need, or you don’t know how best to design your kitchen to accommodate the equipment, our friendly team are always available to offer their advice.
Steelplan’s designers frequently produce clever solutions to challenges like limited space or unusual kitchen footprints, and if you would like to see what your kitchen needs, and what the new design could look like, then get in touch for a completely free consultation. We can even prepare a 3D visualisation so that you can see the proposal in situ. Call 020 8254 0900, or email [email protected] to speak to one of the team.
