Category: Help and Advice

Austerity, Brexit, Covid, Demand, and now Emerging Technology. The pace of change is reshaping how we live and crucially how we feel.

It’s difficult to know how to cope with distressing news in the media and social media. In times of political instability, conflict, and hardship, reading too much about what’s happening can be overwhelming and make us feel anxious. Being informed is important, but we should consider the impact on our psychological wellbeing and the steps we can take to protect ourselves. Here, we explain how to deal with news anxiety to support your mental health, as well as young people’s mental health. 

Pundits often describe an overdiagnosis of mental disorders, but they fail to see that these disorders have always existed in our youth; they were simply ignored, untreated and left to fester. 

In this article for Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, we will explore why community is important to mental health, alongside practical ways to cultivate community connections.

Mental Health UK is proud to announce the launch of a comprehensive new Resource Hub —designed to empower individuals on their journey into work.

It’s that time of year again — the sun is out, and school has finished for another academic year. But if you are a parent — whether you work in the office, hybrid, or you from home — the summer holidays might be overwhelming.

Feedback from Mental Health UK’s Me & Money pilot programme, which launched last year, shows that young people are experiencing additional strain on their relationship with their parents/carers because of money in the approach to the school holidays.

In the UK, nearly 5 million cisgender women aged 50 and over are in employment – it is the fastest-growing demographic group of workers. This age group is the most likely to be affected by menopausal symptoms, so employers need to ensure they are supporting this group of their workforce. Talking openly with your employer can be an important first step towards being better supported at work.

Like many parents, I was looking forward to my children returning to school after the long summer holidays. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids and love spending time with them. However, for the optimum balance of a happy home environment and my ability to do my job, a return to school was the order of the day. My kids too needed to get back into the daily schedule school brings; the social engagement of seeing all their friends again is a hugely positive thing and obviously they need to learn.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents hoped the days of remote learning were behind them and their children. However, recent news that over 100 schools have been forced to suddenly close due to safety fears over concrete has forced some pupils in England and Wales to start their school terms online or in temporary facilities.  

Thanks to our ongoing partnership with Bank of America, we are delivering a new service called Into Work in London, Kent and North Wales, supporting people to make positive change and enter employment.

If news reports of rising temperatures, melting ice caps, or forest fires fill you with dread and anxiety, you aren’t alone. You might be experiencing ‘climate anxiety’, and while it is a relatively new term, it’s on the rise and particularly affects young people. 

Christmas is the time of year when we’re expected to be our merriest and most joyful. There are friends and family to see, and a wealth of opportunities to have fun and let loose. For some of us, our reality during the festivities is far from this. It can be a stressful time of year with family duties, financial strain, pressure to keep to traditions and tricky logistics. It can also bring up some difficult emotional experiences, such as trauma and grief. So, how can we navigate these challenges and protect our mental health?

Although the wintertime can be a time for celebration, festivities, and socialising, for many people it can also induce feelings of loneliness, stress, and anxiety. With our physical environment also changing around us, with shorter days and less sunlight, we might need to take extra care to monitor our mental health over these colder months. 

Fundraiser, Luke Hamer tells us why putting his mental health first made him stronger – as part of our World Mental Health Day campaign encouraging people to make their mental health a priority.

Tying in with our World Mental Health Day campaign encouraging people to make their mental health a priority, our colleague Gemma tells us why looking after her mental health is integral to her quality of life. 

Some of us look forward to the autumn, with the promise of cosy jumpers, hot drinks and spending more time indoors. For some people the upcoming weeks are less appealing, with fewer daylight hours and colder temperatures. As the seasons change, you may notice a shift in your mental health. We’ve put together some helpful guidance on how to manage the transition to autumn and avoid it negatively impacting mental health.

27-year-old Zany lost her close friend to suicide five years ago. Like many people who are bereaved by suicide, she experienced a complex set of emotions following his death and grappled with a sense of detachment and hopelessness. She tells us her story about what helped her to address her grief.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the mental health and wellbeing of people across the globe. But as we return to a semblance of the lives we had pre-Covid, we are being gripped by an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis in this country.

Some people associate their happiest memories with long summer days and experiencing the benefits of the warmer months. However for people with anxiety disorders, the heat may increase their symptoms of anxiety, and the summer months can feel the most difficult to face. 

Body image is a combination of the thoughts and feeling we have about ourselves physically. Experiencing anxiety or low mood relating to our body image is not a mental health condition in itself but can contribute to other mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Below we explore this topic and speak to Rebecca about her experience of body negativity.

Ramses Oliva is a valued former colleague at Mental Health UK, as well as a transgender inclusion specialist and writer. One of his biggest struggles growing up was not having the words to describe his identity. Not only did this not stop him from being gay and transgender, but it also made it extremely difficult to ask for and receive help. Here’s his story.

Living with a mental illness can have a profound effect on your own life but also on family members’ lives, because they often take on a vital role in ensuring their relative has a good quality life. We spoke to Rich and his dad about what it was like living in a house where OCD dictated their day-to-day life.

My name is Jade, and I’m the Navigator for the North Wales region. I’m based in Porthmadog, Gwynedd within a resource centre operated by Adferiad. I also work in the resource centre supporting people with mental health issues, so the navigator role fits in well alongside this other role.