County Durham mental health charity explains how we can learn from the pandemic
Module 10 of the COVID-19 inquiry will examine the impact on society
A County Durham suicide prevention and bereavement support charity says the COVID inquiry is an opportunity to learn how we can protect and support mental health.
An ongoing three-week independent public inquiry is looking into the societal impact of the pandemic, including the spiraling of poor mental health.
The charity explains what they hope will come from module 10 of the inquiry.
Matthew Smith, one of the founders of If U Care Share Foundation, said: "It's always an interesting one in terms of the pandemic and what we can potentially learn off the back of it. Naturally, our organisation when we're having conversations and when the pandemic comes up, but I also think in wider society, one of the biggest things that is always referenced is the impact it's had on people's mental health.
"It's always about learning, it's about understanding how we can do things better in the future, how we can protect people, how we can support people's mental health. I think as mental health organisations and suicide prevention organisations, it gave us ways to adapt and think of how we can become more accessible.
"The things that potentially would normally be a distraction were kind of not there to distract them. We were looking more at our mental health, our wellbeing. I think our main headline as an organisation, if we reflect back, was that more people were reaching out at If U Care Share, seeking that help.
"At one point our calls had increased by around about 250%. I think we certainly felt the impact on people's wellbeing, on people's mental health. You can look at that twofold. Is it that people were struggling more, or potentially that people were looking more inwards and looking at their own wellbeing?
"I would like to think, and we hope that something like this will never happen again, but I would like to think that we are more readily able to support those who are most at need during these scenarios. Hopefully it can give us an opportunity to educate people better on how they can look after the wellbeing themselves."