Belonging to your communities in 2025

Did you know it’s Mental Health Awareness Week?

I alone had to remind myself and others late last week – it’s part of my job! This national event was inspired by the Mental Health Foundation. They have grown significantly in recent years, with a clear mission: “to raise awareness of mental health and help people understand how to better support themselves and those around them”.

Do you think that is an important theme in your work?

Life is stressful, just look at the news, both inside and outside the UK. According to a recent BetterHelp survey, 35% of UK adults worry they’ll be judged for seeking professional mental health support. Meanwhile, 25% fear that doing so might affect their job prospects. That’s a tough environment for anyone to thrive in.

We talk a lot about physical health, but mental health is just as important, but not as much noticed. Just write both words on Google and see the images to notice what I mean. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has stated: “We urgently need more funding for mental health research. If we’re serious about treating mental and physical health equally, funding for mental health research needs to increase exponentially.”

Each May, “Mental Health Awareness Week” focuses on a national theme to encourage shared understanding and support. In recent years, they have explored themes like ‘loneliness’, ‘anxiety’, and ‘movement for our mental health’. The 2025 theme is especially relevant to the marketing and advertising sector: ‘Community’.

But what does ‘community ’ really mean?

According to Oxford Languages, a community is “a group of people living or working in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.”

From an evolutionary point of view, we are social animals, tribal, even. We survived by working together to avoid danger. And while the threats today may be less physical (though I did hit a deer on the road near my home recently!), our brains still crave connection. I have to continuously connect and re-connect with communities in my work life.

Our minds are wired to seek safety through others. As author and sports performance coach Owen Eastwood puts it in “Belonging”:

That sense of connection, the trust we feel with colleagues, clients, friends, and family, isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the foundation of good mental health.

The IPA is a perfect example of community in action - just look at the IPA Groups and Committees alone. The range of services, members and topics is built on community trust. There is also the work members do with their clients and colleagues, as well as the outside work groups – these are all communities.

Through my work at Melville Mental Solutions, I’ve had the privilege of supporting IPA members. I used to work on the agency side and now am a mental health consultant. For the IPA, I am running a panel discussion about the mental side of the pitching process and have kindly been asked to give a presentation to IPA members.

How about I refer to your community in marketing and advertising terms as ‘your target audience’? I used to work in different sides of marketing and advertising and used this!

As we mark Mental Health Awareness Week, I invite you to pause.

Reflect on where you feel your sense of belonging

It will take just 30 seconds and perhaps bring you a relaxing smile. My smile is thinking about my family, community and just the thought that I will be helping some people this week and this month.

Consider how you might strengthen your community, whether it’s checking in with a colleague, offering your time to support someone else, or simply saying a sincere “thank you.” The Mental Health Foundation have provided a lovely set of tips. These include ways and part of you supporting your community at work or outside:

• Make it fun – choose something you enjoy.
• Get outdoors – choose somewhere you want to go.
• Show kindness to others – choose someone you want to help.
• Welcome others – are there groups in your team or office that you can welcome?

And if you already do these, then ‘well done’. It’s those small, prosocial acts that keep us connected.

If you’d like to continue the conversation or explore ways I can support your community, feel free to get in touch. Wishing you and your community a positive and healthy week and onwards.

Patrick Melville is the Founder of Melville Mental Solutions, and is running a course on the mental skills for pitch success in June.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.