Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 09 - 15 May 2022 and is an event hosted by the Mental Health Foundation. The Mental Health Foundation have organised and hosted Mental Health Awareness Week for the last twenty-one years. During this time the event has grown to become one of the biggest awareness weeks across the UK and globally.

The theme of this years Mental Health Awareness Week is 'Loneliness'.

Loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and has had a huge impact on our physical and mental health during the pandemic. Our connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting our mental health, and we need to find better ways of tackling widespread feelings of loneliness - and we can all play a part in this.

Reducing loneliness is a major step towards creating a mentally healthy society, so the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is aimed at raising awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing and the practical steps we can take to address it.

Ways you can support:

You might be wondering whether one person’s efforts can really make a difference, and the answer is “Yes, absolutely!” Every conversation you have about the importance of recognising and treating mental illness creates a ripple effect that reaches people in your circle and far beyond it. There are many ways that you can raise awareness for mental health:

• Talk with everyone you know, asking friends, family and colleagues how they're doing - and really listen to their answers.
• Open up about your experiences if you have them. Sharing your story about your own struggles with mental illness could be the encouragement that someone else needs to open up about theirs. It can be reassuring to hear that someone else has experienced similar struggles and is now able to tell their story.
• Encourage kind language and explore 'person-centred language.' Any language that reinforces the stigma surrounding mental illness is harmful and might keep someone from getting help. So be sure to call it out when anyone is using derogatory words about mental illness and try educating them on the consequences of their language.
• Educate yourself about mental illness so that you can pass on your knowledge to those in your circle. It's pretty common for people to misunderstand mental illness, so educating yourself on common misconceptions prepares you to have those conversations. This should include talking with children about mental health in age-appropriate terms. Children aren't immune to mental illness and can experience conditions like depression and anxiety at an early age.
• Use your social media accounts to spread awareness. There's a lot of important and quality content out there that can reach thousands of people if you share it. We now have the platforms to allow us to reach more people, so don't be afraid to use them to spread awareness about such important issues.