Mental Health Awareness Week - Community

Mental Health Awareness Week 2025

This year, Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 12 to 18 May 2025 and the theme is 'community'.

We want to use this Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the power and importance of community. 

Being part of a safe, positive community is vital for our mental health and wellbeing. We thrive when we have strong connections with other people and supportive

communities that remind us, we are not alone. 

Communites can provide a sense of belonging, safety, support in hard times, and give us a sense purpose. 

The theme of 'community' is significant for K107FM, we're the only OFCOM licenced community radio station within Fife - so our role is to support our community.

As such you'll hear us interviewing and promoting various local organisations offering support across our area. We've also got a pro-active social media platform that we utilise to be a trusted source of local news and information across our community.

Our members are connected to our community, majority live, work or grew up in Fife and our on-air shows are brought to you by volunteers. Many of which do so for their passion for the local area, or specific genres of music. There are mental health benefits to those broadcasting with K107FM, through local radio they feel connected to, and involved with the local community and what is happening and we're continually grateful for their tireless dedication.

But what of the wider benefits of community radio, and what K107FM does across Kirkcaldy and surrounding towns?

We conducted a "Listening Locally" report with the UK Community Radio Network (UKCRN) - a trade body for Ofcom Licenced Community Radio stations, which represents, supports, and develops Ofcom Licenced Community Radio stations.

The UKCRN created an national study with Dr Alison Hulme, an academic at the University of Northampton, whose background is in sociology, but who also spent ten years working as a radio professional.

To the question - ‘listening to local radio has made me feel more connected to my community’. 28% were 'neutral' whilst 36% ‘agreed’ with this statement, and 15% ‘strongly agreed’. This means the majority of those who listen to K107FM gain a sense of being connected to their local community through it.

The national study showed strong evidence that local community radio aids personal resilience and is absolutely key in enabling people to cope with periods of stress, anxiety, and depression. It grounds people and provides them with a sense of normality that less localized radio offerings cannot. In addition, it showed that listening to local community radio not only helps listeners feel calmer but helps them feel they can actively seek help.

Local community radio is a powerful force in the mental (and often physical) well-being of listeners. 

The national study has found that information of various types is more trusted on local community radio than elsewhere. As a result, listeners are more likely to act upon information heard on local community radio than that heard elsewhere and large percentages of listeners have been directly helped by information heard on local community radio.