SPECIAL REPORT MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS


A holiday can often be hugely beneficial for people’s mental health


‘THE HOLIDAY MADE US FEEL WE COULD BREATHE AGAIN’


With health problems affecting her daughter throughout 2020, Hannah Simpson tells us how much a break helped her and her family to feel hopeful again


2020 was going to be an awesome year. We toasted in the new


year, and then spent a couple of days researching and booking our summer holiday to Crete. But it wasn’t to be. Our world imploded when, in late


January, our daughter Phoebe, then 13, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. 2020 would be spent watching our


the customers when you’re booking, but I don’t think you really know the personal circumstances behind those customers,” he explains.


Help to holiday Though attainable for many, going on holiday is a luxury that is out of reach for a lot of people. This is where the Family Holiday Association comes in. Since its inception 45 years ago, the charity sends families who need it most away on a break. Mental health conditions play


into the reasons why families are eligible for a break, explains Mags Rivett, director of income and engagement. “If we’ve learnt anything from


the pandemic it’s the appreciation entirely of how much we need a break,” she says. “And that’s how our families feel, but without the ability to actually go on the break.” She says the difference that a holiday has on a family’s mental


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health is tangible. The charity’s research from 2019 shows that, immediately after their break, 92% felt better able to cope, with the same proportion noticing reduced stress and worries. And 91% felt more optimistic about the future. But it doesn’t just carry benefits


in the short term: 83% of families who had experienced mental health issues said they still noticed a positive difference up to a year later. Rivett says a holiday can give a


much-needed confidence boost. “Having come back from a break,


you feel like you can conquer the world sometimes, don’t you?” she


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adds. “You feel all refreshed and, actually, for a lot of our families, that makes them feel they’re better able to access some support. “Without overdramatising this,


there’s a little bit more hope for the future. There’s a glimmer on the horizon.” And for travel agents who are


once again sending customers away on their holidays?


“It takes us back to why we


do this job in the first place,” says Deben Travel’s Hunt. “We do this job because we enjoy it and we like seeing people happy.” Richards at Tivoli Travel points


out how much of a pleasure it is to see the joy on people’s faces when they return from their holidays. “It makes me feel good if I can help somebody,” she says.


14 OCTOBER 2021 13


baby endure brutal cancer treatment. This was our second brush with cancer; my two girls watched me go through breast cancer treatment in 2016. Life can be so cruel. A month on, and the whole world imploded. Covid arrived, and we were forced to shield for months, confined to hospital or home, forbidden to see anyone or go anywhere. While others were reeling from the impact of the pandemic, we were in an even darker place. May brought surgery to save Phoebe’s leg. Because of Covid, only one parent was allowed in, so we swapped in and out. Not permitted to leave our younger daughter with friends, she sat in the car all day. Our hearts broke for our girls.


We so longed to escape, but we


were trapped, by cancer and Covid. And then we were approached by


Momentum Children’s Charity – and they offered us a holiday in their chalet in the New Forest. Nearing the end of chemo, we spent


a blissful few days by the sea. It felt like we could breathe again. It wasn’t Crete, it was better – it was hope; a glimpse of life beyond cancer and Covid. Without that holiday we might have been broken entirely. A year on, and we have had our holiday in Crete. It was heavenly, and for many more reasons than sunshine, sand and gallons of wine.” momentumcharity.org


Hannah with husband Nick and daughters Sasha and Phoebe


PICTURES: Family Holiday Association; Shutterstock/Jacob Lund


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