Mental Health Awareness Week 2017
Hello, it’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2017!
Having worked multiple jobs including a primary school, and being a Psychology graduate, I have interacted with my fair share of people coming from all mental health backgrounds. I’ve worked alongside children with psychiatric disorders, and met adults coping with illnesses that have developed later in life.
However, even in this day and age we still face so much stigma surrounding mental health. Whether it’s individual symptoms, diagnosis, coping mechanisms or even trying to get help with therapy. There are no limitations when it comes to mental health.
The Mental Health Foundation have been doing incredible and pioneering work, helping the nation strive towards better mental health for more than 60 years. Mental Health Awareness week takes place the second week in May every year (this year is the 8th-14th), and this is the 17th year!
The theme this year is ‘Surviving or Thriving’, and the key findings from recent studies have shocking revelations: Only a small minority of people (13%) report living with high levels of good mental health. So what can we do to change this? Here is some information about the campaign and how you can get involved.
‘This Mental Health Awareness Week, we want to set out the real scale and cost of being stuck on survive, to our health, relationships and future options. We want to outline to both policy makers and individuals the practical steps we can take to build a mentally healthy country.’ (source)
Time to Change have a wonderful campaign going, and this is one of their very relevant posts that really resonated as I was doing my research. (source)
Most people experience some kind of mental health issue at some point in their lives: others suffer long term and daily with the issues they face mentally. Talking and sharing our experiences will lead to less stigma and hopefully a happier nation!
From the Mental Health website: ‘If your mental or emotional state quickly gets worse, or you're worried about someone you know - help is available (click here). You're not alone; talk to someone you trust.’
