Moods, much like the weather, are anything but predictable. From grey days, to bright and breezy ones, there’s no forecasting what our emotional response will be to what life throws at us, nor what these curveballs will be on any given day. If there’s one thing we can count on, though, to help smooth these unpredictable emotional terrains...it is friendship. Friend relationships, in their most solid, positive and reciprocal forms, are a place of both shelter and solace. A portable safe space under which secrets can be contained, and the ‘elements’ of worry, stress anxiety temporarily sheltered from. Much like an umbrella...they’re an invaluable commodity, come rain or shine! It’s for all these reasons that, on Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re sending the message to embrace the sanctuary of friendship in helping regulate some of the natural, unavoidable fluctuations in mental health that we’re mostly all susceptible... to a greater or lesser extent! Most of us can count on one hand the number of true friends who can be depended on in times of need, and it is these ‘all-weather friends’ - those who have stood the test of time and trial - who are the ones to potentially make the biggest difference whenever and wherever worry, self-doubt, anxiety or low mood creep in. Of course, in any friendship, it’s as important to offer up the metaphorical ‘umbrella’ as it is to take respite in another’s, so it inevitably pays to carry an attitude of openness and generosity...in ALL walks of life (even the seemingly sunny ones!)