Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week 2023
Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place this year from 15 to 21 May 2023.
National Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event, which provides an opportunity for the whole world to focus on achieving good mental health. The Mental Health Foundation in the UK started the event 21 years ago.
The official theme this year is Anxiety. This year the theme looks at how anxiety can affect people living with severe mental illness, what external factors can trigger this strong response and what we can do to support our colleagues and peers.
Everyone can feel anxious at some point in life. No matter where you are in your life and career there may be a time where you feel some form of anxiety. It is a normal emotion in all of us but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem.
A lot of things can lead to feelings of anxiety including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job, work pressures or other big life events. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems we can face. We can all feel anxious from time to time. Anxiety is a natural response to uncertainty and change.
Focusing on anxiety for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will increase awareness and understanding of anxiety by providing information on the things that can help prevent it becoming a problem.
In some communities and countries mental health is still a taboo topic. This is due to uncertainty and lack of information and general misconception around this area and it therefore may be difficult for someone to speak about how they are feeling.
Mental Health Awareness Week is open to every individual. It is all about starting conversations about mental health and how the things in our daily life can affect us. This week is also a chance to talk about any aspect of mental health that people want to, regardless of the theme.
You can observe National Mental Health Awareness Week by doing various things such as:
- Reach out to friends and family or colleagues. Start the conversation by talking to your friends and relatives or even peers and colleagues.
- Read about mental health.
- Seek help if needed.
Here is a link to more information and how to get involved:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week
Doncaster Law Society and JDLD are here to support our members.
Shabana Ali
Yasmin Walker