Mental Health Awareness week takes place annually from 18 to 24 May and aims to educate and increase awareness about mental illness.

The theme of this year’s campaign is kindness with The Mental Health Foundation asking people to celebrate the acts of kindness that are so important to our mental health, and begin a discussion on the kind of society we want to shape as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

With this in mind, the Foundation will begin our activity with a ‘Kindness Calendar’ which will see Chelsea players join our staff, participants and supporters in sharing daily messages about kindness and the importance of good mental health through our social media platforms.

Throughout the month, we will also be using the campaign to showcase our existing programmes which focus on mental health and wellbeing, while also announcing exciting new activity during Mental Health Awareness week itself.

Mark Rowland, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: ‘Now more than ever we need to re-discover kindness in our lives.

‘We want to use Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the thousands of acts of kindness that are so important to our mental health, particularly at this current time.

‘The week is an important opportunity for us all to come together and discuss mental health and the kind of society we want as we come out of the coronavirus crisis.

‘Young people look to footballers as role models so it’s fantastic to have the support of Chelsea FC.

‘I know the Chelsea FC Foundation does very important work in the community and youth sector and I wish them well.’

Chelsea Foundation head of region Phil Hastings said: ‘We are delighted to be promoting Mental Health Awareness week, enlisting help from staff across the club and the Foundation to create a month of kind acts.

‘It is crucial at this challenging time that we all come together to think about our own mental health and wellbeing, as well as our colleagues and family members. Offering a little bit of daily kindness will go a long way.

‘We as a Foundation have been dedicated to improving people’s emotional wellbeing and resilience for a number of years through our Education and Community programmes, as well as working with our international team and charity partner Plan International across the world.’

This new social media campaign follows on from our April motivation calendar campaign which provided daily challenges posted on our Foundation Twitter to help students and staff keep their minds and bodies happy, healthy and ready to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For further information throughout the month follow us on Twitter @CFCFoundation