A visit to the zoo is good for you!

Blackpool Zoo has teamed up with mental health charity, Lancashire Mind, to champion mental wellbeing for all.

The new partnership has been launched to find out if a visit to the zoo is good for you and if visitors’ wellbeing improved throughout their visit. It links the zoo’s work to provide an educational and fun environment with Lancashire Mind’s work to promote its five ways to wellbeing.

The survey will take place during selected days on February half term and the results will be collated and analysed to see how wellbeing improved throughout the day.

Nicola Benstead, PR and Marketing Executive at Blackpool Zoo, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Lancashire Mind to carry out this research. We see families, couples and groups of friends enjoying their visits every day and we wanted to see if we could quantify how a visit to Blackpool Zoo can improve mental wellbeing. Good mental health is so important and with so many distractions in daily life it is really important for people to take time out and enjoy themselves. We look forward to seeing the results!”

Lancashire Mind’s work to promote its five ways to wellbeing encourages people to try to do the following on a regular basis to promote good mental health:

• Connect: spend time strengthening relationships with friends, family and colleagues
• Being Active: sport, shopping, DIY, gardening – do what you can and enjoy what you do
• Take Notice: be more aware of your surroundings and what’s happening right now – notice the little things that make you smile
• Keep Learning: maybe a new skill or hobby
• Give: take time to do something for someone else and you’ll feel good too

Helen Fairweather, Head of Development at Lancashire Mind, added: “At Lancashire Mind we're leading a wellbeing revolution to achieve our goal of mental wellbeing for all, but we can’t do it on our own. Teaming up with organisations like Blackpool Zoo is important and helps break down the stigma around mental health and wellbeing. It enables us to start conversations about mental health, to help ourselves and each other, and what better place to do that than at a zoo!”

Everyone that takes part in the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a family ticket to the zoo.