"Tidy up your head": Info evening at Bestwig town hall opens up ways out of "mental load"

"Tidy up your head" - this was the ambitious goal of around 30 participants at an exciting information evening in the Bestwig town hall: "Family, care, fairness - ways to achieve more balance in everyday life" was the title of a specialist lecture. Anne Scharfenstein, a systemic coach from Sundern, demonstrated ways to better cope mentally with the stresses and tasks of everyday life.

Two points in particular took centre stage: firstly, "care work", or "looking after others". Anyone who takes on "care work" always has work to do. And this multitude of small and large tasks can then lead to "mental load" - a mental overload that, in extreme cases, can even result in physical or mental illness. It is still often women who bear the majority of this burden - even if they are in employment - and often receive little appreciation for it.

During the two-hour event, Anne Scharfenstein explained the background to "care work" and "mental load" in an interactive presentation and also explored the stresses, feelings and emotions associated with "mental load". In an open exchange, the expert finally opened up ways for the participants to share mental load and care work more fairly. According to Anne Scharfenstein, it is particularly important to make mental load visible - then you can work together step by step towards the goal of distributing such burdens appropriately.

The information evening was organised by Elena Beule, Equal Opportunities Officer for the municipality of Bestwig. She thanked Anne Scharfenstein for her commitment with a bouquet of flowers - and the participants applauded and thanked her anyway.