Milan has been the first European city badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, being forced to strictly quarantine starting from March 2020. As Global Shapers, we considered which type of support we wanted to provide to our Milanese Community.
We realised that being forced to stay at home with flatmates, relatives, and friends, plus the reduction of personal space and privacy as well as the complete deconstruction of routines could affect mental health in several ways. More importantly, we realised this aspect should be taken seriously, since it has the same impact as the preservation of physical wellness. We were also concerned about all the troubled domestic realities, such as families in conflict and women that were forced to live 24 h with their abusers.
PHASE #1: We decided to develop a newly born project via 3 different channels and tools. We created a to-be-printed-format to be exhibited on housing notice boards, a digital version to be spread by WhatsApp, and a social media campaign shared on our Instagram and Facebook profiles. We addressed topics about people minds, suggesting people to ask for help in case of need or to share information with people who could benefit from it. We also provided contacts and phone numbers for where to seek professional help.
PHASE #2: we created a digital survey to monitor and to follow-up how people lives had changed during and after the lockdown. We encouraged them to reflect about how their daily routine evolved and especially how the new normality could affect their mental (and physical) health. We launched the #mynewnormal survey on our Instagram and Facebook profiles, together with other Italian Hubs. We shared the data results with our followers: during the quarantine the participants had started new activities to boos their physical and mental health. However, during the post-lockdown, there has been a small decrease in the # of hours dedicated to those projects. We encouraged our followers to keep minding their mental health by keep doing what made them feel good both mentally and physically.
