World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day, Tuesday 10th October, is about raising awareness of mental health and driving positive change to reduce the stigma around it.
Each year the awareness day aims to bring together family, friends, colleagues and healthcare professionals to encourage conversations about mental health, how we need to look after it and how important it is to get help if you or someone you know is struggling.
Mental health is everyone’s business. We all have times when we feel down, stressed or anxious. Most of the time those feelings pass, but sometimes they develop into a more serious problem, and this could happen to any one of us at any time.
Everyone is different. Some may bounce back from a setback, while someone else may feel weighed down by it for a long time. Our mental health doesn’t always stay the same. It can change as circumstances change and as we move through different stages in our lives. To help raise awareness of World Mental Health Day, some of the Young Health Champions across East Berkshire are running events at local schools:
- Edgbarrow is running a poetry competition and the winning item will be made into a film
- Brakenhale are running an arts competition
- Ranelagh are holding an assembly about local support and how to access it
- Easthampstead Park are creating a poster which will be added to their common room display board
The Young Health Champions is a peer education project delivered in Slough and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead by Slough-based youth charity Together As One, and by the public health team in Bracknell Forest. It gives 14–24-year-olds the opportunity to complete a Royal Society of Public Health accredited qualification and aims to increase young people’s confidence, by empowering them with knowledge about their community, support groups and where to access health advice.
As part of the Young Health Champions scheme, 29 young people are also currently being trained to be Mental Health Advocates where they will learn useful skills and knowledge which they can then communicate with their peers and take with them throughout their lives to help others improve their mental wellbeing.
If you or someone you know is struggling, head to our mental wellbeing pages where you will find localised support and therapy services located in your area.