This is shocking, considering that one in four of us will experience a mental health problem in our lifetime, which means the chances are the vast majority of us will either have a mental health problem or be aware of someone close to us who has. Some would argue that even this is not enough and experience on the ground tells me it is still is not happening. I’m generally a sceptical person (I know, who knew?), but no more so than when it comes to government announcements about levelling the playing field with respect to accessing mental health services, or ensuring mental health has parity with physical health. Services that, unless you are privileged enough to be able to go private, you may have to wait for over a year to access. Services were under pressure before the pandemic started. I feel that writing a post about this topic is timely given the impact that Covid-19 has had, as a result of both the worry that the pandemic has caused and the impact of lockdown itself. I know that a greater openness about the issue would have helped me no end when I was experiencing chronic anxiety, a condition I battled with between about the ages of 10 and 25 and something I will always live with to some extent. While I applaud the various initiatives to encourage more people to talk about mental health, including WMHD, I do believe the ultimate aim should be for this to be the norm across our society, rather than just something to do on one day. This principle, however, needs to expand and embed itself in society. The Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown has caused mental health referrals to rise sharply and, in my experience, talking to someone is one of the most effective things you can do – even if it is done so virtually. If you #DoOneThing for this WMHD, it’s to have a chat with someone if you’re struggling.
Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day (#WMHD), the goal for which is ‘ to help raise mental health awareness so each of us can make a contribution to ensure that people dealing with mental health problems can live better lives with dignity.’ Comment: #DoOneThing and have a chat this World Mental Health Day
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