CEO blog - Kindness
This week is ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’ and it couldn’t be more timely. We know that good mental health is central to our ability to cope with and recover from this crisis. However, unsurprisingly, this long period of lockdown and the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic has affected the mental health and wellbeing of us all, including our children. This year, the theme for the week is kindness, which seems an appropriate choice in the current circumstances. I’m sure that we can all think of numerous acts of kindness going on in our communities right now as we shop for elderly neighbours, keep in touch with relatives who live alone, donate to food banks, and much more. But the power of kindness doesn’t stop there – showing kindness to others has a positive impact on our own mental health and wellbeing too. In other words, by being kind to others we are also being kind to ourselves, which is just as important.
Another date to note this week was Wednesday 20th May, which was ‘National Thank A Teacher Day’. It was wonderful to see so many of you showing your kindness by sharing pictures, videos and messages online. I want to join you in saying a huge thank you to every member of the Rivers family for their amazing work, not only during these challenging times but all year round.
Finally, I wish you all a relaxing half-term break. Be kind to yourselves - try to switch off and enjoy the sunshine.
Stay safe and stay in touch,
Kate Brunt
CEO