Solving codeword puzzles for mental health

The COVID-19 pandemic years have made it necessary for us all to undertake home isolation, and social distancing, which has caused general disruption to our daily lives.
For many this has increased anxiety and unearthed unknown mental health conditions we didn’t know about. It is therefore important to develop coping strategies. One of these is solving codeword puzzles for mental health.

Puzzling is an ideal tool that can assist public and school libraries to reach out to their patrons to help facilitate health and wellbeing activities and foster mental resilience and fitness.

Reach out to patrons with a library puzzle club

Establishing a library puzzle group is a great way to help patrons stay connected. Puzzlers can enjoy solving puzzles together and bring their own knowledge to the table. They will also learn and interact with others and make new friends.

Solving puzzles for mental health is really is the ideal COVID-safe activity. As puzzlers we all have something in common. We are all struggling to come to terms with this new world we find ourselves in, at the same time, have an inbuilt hankering to increase our knowledge. Solving a puzzle is a form of escapism. It allows us to leave our worries; even if it is only for a short while. A puzzle is a problem we really can solve, and doing it with others, it’s even better. Codewords are a brilliant puzzling option; they are mysterious and intriguing.

Solve codeword puzzles for mental health in the library

The Clue Detective’s Puzzling for Mental Health Initiative encourages public libraries to establish a codeword puzzle club and promote it to their various community stakeholders who wish to solve codewords can engage inhouse or remotely.

The library’s patron population at large – anyone with a library card can access puzzles.
Face to face codeword puzzle clubs
‘Zoom codeword puzzle clubs’ with patrons connecting like-minded puzzlers near and far. They don’t need to be in the same room or the same time-zone, for that matter!