World Mental Health Day is on the 10th October every year. It’s aim is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world.
Our goal at CMHS UK is to challenge Mental Health services and try to improve the services which are available. Awareness is a key factor, and raising awareness amongst young people can only help to de-stigmatise mental illness.
Children soak up information from the world around them. If they are in an environment where they are given negative views about their feelings and about talking about or sharing their worries, they are likely to view people with depression in a negative way. And if these children start to feel overwhelmed by their emotions, they will probably feel ashamed, try to hide what they feel and will not seek help.
But if we encourage an environment where talking about how you feel is acceptable, where asking for help is not considered to be a weakness, these children may still suffer from a mental illness, but they will know how to ask for help and won’t feel ashamed or different or needy.
We need our mental well-being to be equally as important as our physical well-being.
World Mental Health Day is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness and remove the stigma.
The charity Young Minds have created a toolkit for getting involved. As an internet community we can get involved in the following ways:
- Wear Something Yellow
- Hello Yellow Bunting
The full toolkit is available here, complete with downloadable bunting and fundraising ideas.
Happy World Mental Health Day!
CMHS UK - Challenging Mental Health Services UK 