Ben’s new campaign highlights key social challenges
- Top 3 social issues for industry: relationship breakdowns, abuse and homelessness
- Ben highlights that social health is key to overall wellbeing
- New social health and wellbeing campaign launched on World Health Day
It’s World Health Day and Ben, the not-for-profit organisation that partners with the automotive industry to provide support for life, has launched ‘Let’s talk about social health’, a campaign highlighting the key social issues affecting people.
Last year, the main reasons people asked Ben for help with their social health were relationship problems, such as separation and breakdowns (34% of requests for help), abuse including domestic abuse (24%) and homelessness (13%). These figures include calls to the helpline, online chat, emails and referrals from other organisations. In addition, under the category of social health, we help people deal with bereavement, self-esteem issues, loneliness, addiction and substance misuse, amongst others.
This year, World Health Day focuses on ‘Depression: Let’s talk’, and there is evidence, including within Ben’s own findings, to suggest strong links between social isolation and mental health problems like depression, as well as physical health. Public Health England’s report on social isolation explains how the quality and quantity of social relationships can affect a person’s physical and mental health. Additionally, a study by Relate highlighted the link between loneliness and mental health challenges. It found that people who had good relationships had higher levels of wellbeing, while poor relationships were detrimental to health, wellbeing and self-confidence.
Zara Ross, Chief Executive of Ben, said: “We need to educate people about the importance of good social health, the real issues people are facing and how it can impact on a person’s overall wellbeing. The four pillars of health and wellbeing (financial, social, physical and mental) are inextricably linked and shouldn’t be looked at in isolation.
“We know that relationship challenges were the top reason for people contacting us about social health last year, which can leave them feeling lonely and affect their confidence. Abuse – a serious issue which can come in many forms – is the next biggest reason for people contacting us. These significant life challenges will no doubt affect a person’s overall wellbeing and are likely to impact on work, so employers should be aware, look out for signs that employees are struggling and support them however they can.
“We often don’t open up about these issues so this is why we have launched our new campaign, ‘Let’s talk about social health’. We want to make the automotive community aware about what issues their colleagues might be facing, encourage them to talk about them, look after each other and spread the word about Ben and how we can help.”
Ben’s campaign, ‘Let’s talk about social health’, will run from April to June and Ben will feature topical articles, blogs and useful information on its website, www.ben.org.uk, and on its social health webpage, www.ben.org.uk/socialhealth. Ben will also dedicate its social media and mailing channels to highlighting key social health topics.
Blogs
We have also launched some new social health blog articles:
Real stories
- Gary’s story: We supported Gary after his parents separated – click here
- Eva’s story: We helped Eva with bereavement and social isolation – click here
-ENDS-