Mental health unfortunately will affect many of us, and there are not many people it has not impacted in some way. Mental Health UK is a charity that connects with people to provide mental health information, advice and support including friends, family and carers. With over 40 years of expertise from their four national founding charity partners, Mental Health UK provides vital care across the UK. As a strong online community, providing a fantastic variety of crafts, video tutorials, entertainment, helping you find fun, new ways to make things every week, and all the tools you would need to start crafting, CraftStash and CraftWorld are proud to be an official supporter of Mental Health UK. We knew through supporting such a worthy cause we would be helping in some way, our employees, customers, clients and the communities in which we work. Our mental health is just as important as our physical health, and unfortunately, last year and this one have been a tough one for us all. The months of lockdown and loss have had a huge impact on our mental health, including the little ones of the family. With the announcements of young people returning to school from today and into next week, many challenges could be presented.

Advice for parents and guardians

Mental Health UK is providing support for parents and grandparents to ensure a safe return to school for our children. You can find a recorded webinar on "How to talk to young people about building resilience through Covid-19" HERE. You can also view the rest of their resources that help parents and guardians have conversations about resilience with their young people HERE. For more information about the challenges our young people face from returning to school and how to prepare, take a look at their helpful blog HERE.  Furthermore, it’s important that we take conscious steps to look after our minds, and we think crafting is such a great way to bring people both joy and in a way distraction during stressful and complicated times.

Health and wellbeing

Mental Health UK points out the five key activities that can help with mental health problems:
  1. Learning how to do something. Whether you’re a complete craft newbie, or just looking for some new hobby ideas, there’s a whole world of crafts for you to try! From crochet to cross-stitch, dressmaking to papercraft, why don’t you encourage your kids to start a new craft adventure?
  2. Staying connected. There are thousands of communities that are looking forward to seeing your creations and getting inspired by you! We invite you to join CraftWorld, our super-friendly online community for papercrafters.
  3. Being present. By creating your plans and activities. You can keep all your plans and activities in a beautiful notebook created by you. Why don't you start a scrapbook with your kid(s) about returning to school?
  4. Supporting others. Most crafting projects are made for someone we love and care about, and the impact that just a simple handmade craft provokes in a person is immeasurable, don't you agree?
  5. Being physically active. Let’s get moving, spring is almost here, so let's enjoy nature with just a 30 minutes walk, or perhaps something at home?
When you ask people why they craft, the most common replies are because it makes them happy, “it reduces stress”, “it gives me a chance to have “me time””, “I enjoy being creative” and that “I’m able to socialise with likeminded people”. Any type of crafting is perfect to unwind and escape any worries or concerns and focus on being in the moment whilst being creative.