Your Mind and Nature: Simplyhealth Live @ Home

Good health isn’t just about how healthy your body is, it’s also about mind health too. At Simplyhealth we see the affect that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has had on many people’s mental health.

That’s why this Mental Health Awareness Week, we have teamed up with the Mental Health Foundation and McFly drummer Harry Judd to put a spotlight on how nature can help boost mental wellbeing.

Together we have launched an e-book Take A Breath: Your Mental Wellbeing and Nature. It’s full of inspirational ideas on how you can boost your mental wellbeing using the natural world and for every download, Simplyhealth will be donating £5 to the Blue Prescribing Project.

What’s more, Harry, along with psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos joined us to discuss the link between nature and mental health over on Simplyhealth UK’s Facebook page.

Harry shared some of his personal experiences, with Dr Linda on hand to offer advice and top tips. Hosted by TV presenter Michelle Ackerley, they were joined by Chris O'Sullivan, who is the Mental Health Foundation's Head of Communications and Fundraising (Scotland/NI).

Simplyhealth Live @ Home was a four part series covering a number of important topics, from exercise to nutrition, to everyday health and wellbeing.

If you missed our workout with Paralympian Jonnie Peacock, the cook-a-long with 2016 The Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown or the yoga class with instructor Annie Clarke, you can watch them all back in full over on our Facebook page, Simplyhealth UK. Make sure you follow us to be the first to find out about future events.

Harry Judd is a member of the hugely successful bands McFly and McBusted, a Strictly Come Dancing winner, regular presenter on The One Show and author of Get Fit, Get Happy. He is a champion of openly discussing mental health, a fitness advocate and sport lover.

Throughout his success, Harry experienced and continues to be affected by anxiety, which he overcomes through exercise. Believing that this attitude towards managing mental health could help others in his situation, Harry shared his experience and passion in his book Get Fit, Get Happy. The message being that simple exercises outside, even just going for a walk, can raise your spirits and put you in a better place mentally.

A Chartered Counselling and Health Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Dr Linda Papadopoulos has worked in various treatment settings both privately, with her own practice and publicly in the NHS.

As well as a successful career on screen, appearing on This Morning, Good Morning Britain and Sky News, Dr Linda is a podcast host and the author of widely published academic journals and self-help books.

Dr Linda was recently awarded the prestigious EVCOM Fellowship Award in recognition of her outstanding and prolific academic publication record and for being an exceptional communicator, both as an author and broadcaster.

Broadcaster Michelle Ackerley is a familiar face on our television screens, having presented Loose Women, The One Show, NHS Fraud Squad, Crimewatch and more recently HealthCheck UK Live on BBC One.

When not on screen, Michelle can regularly be heard presenting on air across BBC 5Live's Weekend Breakfast Show and 5Live's Drive Show.