Mental Health Awareness Week 2025

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As has become my custom through the years I am writing to remind you that this week in the UK is Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW). Regular and longer standing readers will know that I originally started blogging on the theme of mental health, sharing my own experiences in the hope that these might help others. For newer readers, this may come as a surprise but, I hope, a welcome one: though much has been done to remove the stigma attached to discussions around mental health there are still many barriers that need to be brought down. If you want to see my earlier posts on my own issues, they can be found in the ‘My Story’ link in the header.

Here in the UK MHAW has been led since 2001 by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) who have done much to provide advice, guidance and assistance for this important subject. Each year they take a theme for the week, and this year it is about the importance of community in relation to our mental health. On their website they say

“Being part of a community can make life feel more meaningful and enjoyable, help us feel happier and safer, and improve our mental health. It can even provide protection from the emotional harm of discrimination.”

That is the opening statement on their page about community. You can find it here, and I urge you to take a look: it is full of helpful thoughts and advice on the importance of communities in our lives, whatever form they might take. If you visit that page you’ll see that a community doesn’t even have to be a physical thing: since I have suffered with a condition that makes it very difficult for me to get out and about I’ve had to rethink what community means for me. It is family, my near neighbours in the block of flats in which I live, old school and work friends with whom I’m still in touch, and my carer and the care agency. But if that sounds limited to you it doesn’t feel like it for me. Why? Because, as the MHF say, a community can exist online, and if those of you with whom I have blog chats on your posts and mine aren’t also a community, then what are we? Don’t ever underestimate the importance of the comments we share on each other’s posts!

They also say that being part of a community – of whatever kind – can give us a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging, which can be invaluable in helping us not to succumb to poor mental health. They sum that up by saying “Life feels more satisfying when you’re part of a community.” And they’re right. Without communities we would be living solitary existences and we are, after all, basically social animals, aren’t we, so that wouldn’t feel right.

As I always do, I took a look on YouTube for a video to illustrate the message for this year’s MHAW. There were several there, though not one from the MHF themselves. Most of them were focused on the organisation behind them, but though this one is branded it doesn’t push the company – just the message – and I rather like its simplicity:

I find that charming, especially Cristina, who doesn’t appear to have received the memo about staying in place until the camera is off! For me, that just adds to the natural feel of it all, and they get the message across clearly and succinctly.

Being a Brit I naturally concentrate on what is happening here, but I’m pretty sure that wherever you are there are similar initiatives in support of improved mental health. They may take different themes but they all have the same goal. I know that the US designates May as Mental Health Month, and there is much online about that. If you are in the US and want to know more there is a good starting point: the Mental Health America website. Unlike us, they don’t appear to have a particular theme for their month, but they offer a wide-ranging set of advice about the importance on maintaining good mental health, and I commend it to you if you are from there. And I found a video from the US about Mental Health Month to share with you:

I just hope that all the cutbacks in healthcare in the US that we read about don’t dilute the message and, most importantly, action to support it.

Thank you for reading, and I hope the message is meaningful for you: it is vitally important for all of us, I believe. Do follow the links I have provided to find out more, and if you think you or someone close to you might be in need of support the sites provide advice on how to find it. Having been there myself I hope you don’t, but from personal experience I know that the worst thing you or they can do is to withdraw and not recognise the need. Seek help and advice: the hardest step is the first one, but it does get easier once you’ve taken that one.

Take care – of yourself and those in your community.

 

45 thoughts on “Mental Health Awareness Week 2025”

  1. Pingback: Rounding Up May | Take It Easy

  2. Pingback: These Days…PRIORHOUSE INTERVIEW with CLIVE PILCHER @Take it Easy blog – priorhouse blog

  6. I admire your dedication for spreading the word through your blog, Clive…I feel mental health is becoming a far wider issue with all the problems of just living from day to day for so many people…I hope you have a wonderful weekend , Clive xx

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    • Thank you, Carol, I appreciate that. Mental health has always been an issue, and at least we talk more about it than we used to. Modern life has many stresses, doesn’t it! You have a wonderful weekend too 😊 xx

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  7. We all learnt a lot about community during lockdown and sadly for very young children they did not have a chance to have those important first experiences that make us into social beings. Many of us would have felt lost without modern communications, whether the traditional telephone or Zoom quizzes. I message every day to various friends on their own, from my old school friend in Lancashire to my 92 year old neighbour in the evenings, who has been adept at learning to use her iPad. I love being out and about, but I did learn while having chemotherapy that I can cope with not being able to leave the house.

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    • Thank you, Janet. You’ve shown that a community can exist perfectly well without face to face contact, and can still have meaning and value for those who are part of it. That’s how it is for me, too.

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  9. Pingback: Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 – Christian Devotions, Health and General issues of the day

  12. Community spirit and support is an important part of our lives. Our estate came together during Covid and we were banging pots to let people know we were still here. The community is still close, people looking out for each other, not in your face, but there in the background. We make time to listen if someone wants to talk, our kettle is always on and confidences are never betrayed.
    There are some local support groups but I feel the medical profession aren’t doing enough, and mental health seems to be top of the list for cutbacks.
    The ones we are dealing with seem to have a tick list and if you deviate from that, you are accused of not trying. That comment last week set my husband back months to the extent of avoiding people, only feeling comfortable in company provided Maya and I were with him, and blew his confidence to go into a shop on his own (with list and prices to help, with me in the car at the end of the phone).
    They do not listen or appreciate that what works for some doesn’t work for everybody. Plus his triggers can hit at any time, anywhere, and he shuts down or starts to shake.
    We are working on it together and are lucky in that we have such a strong relationship. There is no Him or Me, we are an US. It’s hard on the sufferer and the carer, but we are trying to find balance.

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  13. It took me a long time to find normality is subject to changes. Knowledge/diagnosis of any issue is step one. Because you can’t address what you don’t know. A nicely timed post Clive.

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  14. It is terrible to hear that all the achievements in healthcare have been stopped in the US. I think one of the essential supports are being heard and taken serious. If that dissapears, the foundation of healing is taken.

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  15. Thanks for highlighting this important issue once again, Clive! I literally was chatting with my daughter earlier today about this very issue. So thankful for the good therapist she has now. Its hard work, but I was encouraging her that it is worth it! Proud of her for pushing through. So glad that you fought through your struggles and didn’t give up.

    I am proud of my son too. For he was promoted back in December, to Human Resources in the big company he works for . He initiated the start of a Mental Health Support group for employees to feel free to come to and people are coming. Its a needed thing.

    Have a great day, my friend! Go ahead and turn up the volume on your rock music. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Carolyn. I have two regular posts for mental health each year: they keep me grounded. I’m glad to hear good things about your children: you are right to be proud of them.

      Funnily enough, music hasn’t been part of today…yet. Maybe after the football finishes I can put on the headphones and have one of my YouTube sessions.

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  16. Lovely post Clive, full of empathy and understanding. It’s good that you are using your own experiences to make it easier to recognise the signs and to know it’s alright to reach out. I think that is probably the hardest step. Sometimes there can be a tendency to think ‘oh there’s people far worse off than me’ and not recognise we still need help. I know I’ve needed it at times.

    And community is hugely important. In these times of the bully which we’re having to witness daily, we simply cannot forget the many, many people who are doing wonderful things in their communities to help those in need, often against the odds. Even, as you say, online. Blogging is certainly a positive community, I now know plenty of good people I wouldn’t have known otherwise who have given me a valuable boost from time to time, yourself included.

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    • Thank you, Paul, for your kind words. I agree: we can’t understate the importance of community for support in present times, which seem to be being redefined in terms of who can be the most horrible.

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  17. This post is especially meaningful for me. I have suffered and been misdiagnosed almost my whole adult life. Finally, less than a year ago I was properly diagnosed, and with the help of a wonderful therapist, I finally understand the personality disorder that had me acting out my entire life- and I am feeling better than I ever have before.

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  18. This is an important post, Clive. Thank you.

    I’m going to put this out there in case someone might benefit:

    My son (38) lives with me because I rescued him. For over twenty years he’s lived with mental anxiety, depression, and paranoia. He was taking high doses of three different types of medication for these issues alone. He always said he knew he wasn’t himself; he felt like he was a product of the medicine. Three years ago, I saw he was slipping away again into a very dark place (suicidal even). I moved him in with me and set about to helping him calm his life.

    When I started eating an animal-based diet, he started eating this way with me. He needed to lose weight – he was 320 pounds. That was ten months ago. Today, he is still losing weight; he’s now at 240 pounds. The most amazing thing for him though was what happened to him mentally by eating only meat, fish, butter, and eggs. His brain fog cleared. His mental clarity was astounding. We could hold meaningful conversations. His medication was reduced! Two of the (worst) medications have been eliminated. His Prozac has gradually gone from 80mg to just 20mg, and that will likely be eliminated next month. No more medication!

    Carnivore isn’t for everyone; it’s a huge commitment. I would suggest watching YouTube videos by Dr. Anthony Chaffee, Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Berry. Read the comments section for testimonials from readers. Search videos specifically for carnivore and mental health together. I found this all very eye-opening.

    Clive, is this is too much information, or you fell it oversteps, please feel free to delete. I understand.

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  19. Great post! Really love the point about how community can take so many forms, even online—it’s so true. I’m sitting here waiting for my carpet cleaners to finish, and reading this gave me a nice reminder to check in with a few friends I’ve been meaning to reach out to. Thanks for sharing this!

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  20. I did read your first blog post, Clive. I’ve had “bouts” myself, though fortunately nothing serious. The U.S. has some wonderful mental health programs. (I was a volunteer in one for a few years.) Unfortunately, such programs have to keep pace with our violent, work-obsessed society, not to mention callous politicians taking chainsaws to valuable social programs. Anyway, kudos to you for keeping mental health on the front burner.

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    • Thank you for doing that. I’m sorry to hear you have also had problems, and am pleased that you have volunteered – as have I. The future for services there seems even more uncertain than here, sadly, so we need to keep the message out there.

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