Each week a different expert joins host, Sophie Scott, to share their insights and techniques on how to look after your mental and physical health during COVID-19

Kindness. The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (18 – 24 May) couldn’t be any more fitting. Throughout this pandemic, the world has witnessed incredible acts of kindness, on every scale. At a time marked by self-isolation, many of us have felt the importance of community more than ever before.

In this episode, we sit down with author, kindness activist and BALANCE columnist, Bernadette Russell, to talk about her hopes that this pandemic could lead to a kinder and more tolerant society that cares for those who are the most vulnerable.

Bernadette also explains how kindness is the cornerstone to better collective and individual mental health – citing its effects on the brain’s neural pathways, ability to reduce anxiety and heighten positive feelings.

Watch the full interview here.

Read Bernadette’s recent BALANCE article ‘An Opportunity to Make the World Anew’

Her book, The Little Book of Kindness (Orion Publishing), is out now.