Samaritans is swapping ‘Blue Monday’ for ‘Brew Monday’ in heart-warming January campaign
By Rupert Cole on Monday, January 15, 2024
Samaritans’ latest campaign is aiming to ‘stop the myth about Monday being blue’, instead encouraging people ‘to start a conversation over a brew’. The mental health charity wants to stop the calendar deciding people’s mental health, and encourage them to have a chat over a cup of tea in an effort to combat what is commonly known as the most depressing day of the year – ‘Blue Monday’.
It is unsurprising that, following the return to work after the Christmas holidays, many people struggle with the advent of cold weather and the feeling of a constantly oncoming illness. In 2004 this led Sky Travel to coin the term ‘Blue Monday’ to describe the third Monday in January. The Sky Travel campaign included research by psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall who came up with an equation that determined the best day for people to book a holiday on: the day when they would most want a break.
In the present day, however, mental health charities such as Samaritans are keen to cleanse the day of stigma, noting how the calendar shouldn’t decide people’s mental health. To get involved, Samaritans are encouraging people to pick up the phone to check in on their loved ones, organise a ‘Brew Monday’ tea break at work, and LNER & c2c Rail have volunteers from the Samaritans at their stations giving away cake and tea to cheer up commuters affected by the Winter blues.
Many companies have been getting involved with the hashtag #brewmonday on X (formerly Twitter), which is currently second in trending behind #bluemonday.
A spokesperson for Samaritans said: “We say it’s time to stop this myth about Monday being ‘blue’ and instead start a conversation over a brew! Reach out and connect with family, friends, colleagues and loved ones. Any day can be a Brew Monday. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday morning or a Saturday night, or if you’re drinking green tea, black coffee or orange juice. If you’re sharing a cuppa and listening, you’re doing it right.”
