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“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more ... conversation.” -- Glenn Close
Hello everyone! Mental health is an integral component of maintaining good overall health within communities. This week’s stories shine a light on some of the things being done to support that balance. The city of Barcelona is creating more green space to benefit mental well-being; at 56 years-old, a grandfather goes back to college so he can live his dream of playing baseball; and to address isolation of the elderly in a Swedish apartment building, the young and old commit to spending at least 2 hours together each week. As we engage much-needed efforts for mental health, may more light, creativity and supportive action unfold! Wishing you a wonderful week!
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Dorian D1 | Unsplash
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More and more research is defining just how beneficial green spaces can be for human health, especially when woven into urban environments. Now, a new study specifically looks into how the green spaces planned for Barcelona, Spain could benefit the city. The findings show potential improvements in mental health for more than 30,000 people. According to the study authors, at least 30% of the "global burden of disease" is linked to mental health disorders. "What we found was that -- even though we're only increasing the green space by about 5 or 6% -- you get quite a considerable reduction in the number of cases of mental health problems," Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, co-author of the paper said.
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Pixabay | Pexels
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"I don't want to be a spectator, I want to be a player," Jim Fullan decided while sitting on the sidelines at his grandchild's game. That thought led the father of three -- and grandfather of nine -- to retire from the U.S. Postal Service. He left his job of 36 years for one reason: He wanted play college baseball. Fast forward a bit. "What did I sign up for?" Fullan, 56, recalls thinking at the start of the baseball season in mid-January. He was enrolled in community college in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he now plays ball and attends classes. "Everyone's looking at me like 'what the heck is that guy doing here?" Fullan is an inspiration to his teammates and hopes to go into coaching after he completes his degree. May he be able to throw curveballs as needed.
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Wikimedia Commons
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Answering the call from small relief organizations in northern Mississippi after a series of tornadoes swept through the area, seven Ukrainians who recently arrived in Minneapolis have headed south to help. At least 26 people died on March 24, 2023 during the storms, which left many others without homes. The nonprofit American Service based in Minneapolis, along with seven Ukrainian refugees, none who have been in the U.S. for longer than three months, gathered in a caravan Monday, March 27th before hitting the road for the 2,000-mile roundtrip journey to help render aid. The American Service has helped over 80 Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war with Russia find jobs and housing in Minneapolis.
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Gary Barnes | Pexels
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The tenants come from diverse generations and cultures -- and commit to socializing with each other at least two hours a week. Older people often face isolation, through no fault of their own, but due to the structure of our society with its obsession with youth. In Sweden, a housing development challenges this isolation: an apartment block with shared facilities, except young and old live together and agree to socialize for at least two hours a week. By having common facilities it is much cheaper than each person living on their own replicating the expensive provision of individual services. May such ideas spread across the world.
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kibuuka mukisa | UNEP
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When Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka became Uganda's first wildlife vet in 1995 at age 25, the future looked bleak for critically endangered wild mountain gorillas, most of whom live in southwestern Uganda. Now, unlike all other gorilla subspecies, they're showing positive growth, due to Gladys' insight that keeping the gorillas healthy was linked with the health of people in nearby communities. People poach because they are hungry, she told New Scientist in an interview about her book, Walking With Gorillas. It tells the story of how she founded Conservation Through Public Health in 2003 and has spent two decades working on community health, providing seedlings of quick-growing crops and planting trees in gardens so that people don't have to go into the forest for firewood. "As conservation groups, we have to get much more sensitive about the fact that communities have to be doing well before wildlife is to do well," she says. "You cannot conserve wildlife in isolation when the people living next to it are so poor."
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