Publish date: 13 May 2025
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is marking Mental Health Awareness Week with a special episode of their podcast, ‘We are AWP Voices’.
The episode features Glen Watson and the story of his son Adam’s struggles with anxiety and depression which tragically led to his suicide in 2022.
Glen tried to help Adam find different ways of managing his depression and anxiety and is now using that experience to help AWP develop new resources to encourage more holistic community-based support, including Nature Based Practice groups, Staff Networks, art and music therapy.
The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week is community, and Glen is championing the role and benefit that more holistic support may give people.
“Adam tried lots of ways to improve his mental health including building a calisthenic gym in our shed, volunteering at an animal rescue centre, long walks in nature, having a healthy diet and we even started a landscaping business together. These things, alongside the support we received from the professionals, which at times was amazing, all helped Adam as he tried to work through his mental health struggles. After losing him I wanted to help the organisation who tried so hard to help us”.
“With mental health issues on the increase, especially among younger people, I think it’s really important to embrace a more holistic approach alongside medication and talking therapies as it can help people better manage their own mental health.”
Glen has joined other individuals with lived experience on a working group, led by AWP’s Patient Experience Team, to encourage AWP clinicians to embrace a more holistic approach and develop resources to help people find more ways of helping themselves.
He added: “I have been struck by the enthusiasm of AWP’s clinicians and its Board to engage with us on developing this work.”
Anastasia Blaize, from AWP’s Patient Experience Team, said: “The working group has brought together individuals and families who have experienced first-hand the benefits of more holistic support.
“We wanted to bring that experience together and use it to develop resources which other people may benefit from. Getting outdoors, being active, or simply doing things which inspire you or make you happy are so good for your mental wellbeing, and we hope that the resources we are developing will help others engage with opportunities in their local area.”
