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The Jersey charity Focus on Mental Illness is using this year s Time To Talk Day to ensure people with severe mental illnesses are not forgotten.
Time To Talk is an annual awareness day on the first Thursday of February, when people across the British Isles are encouraged to talk about their emotional wellbeing.
This year s theme on 4 February is the power of small - to signify that a small conversation about mental health can make a big difference to islanders, especially at such an isolating time with restrictions in both islands.
Stephen McCrimmon says it is important to remember those who have a mental illness. Credit: ITV CHANNEL TV
WITH so many of us suffering mentally due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s annual ‘Time to Talk Day’ is perhaps even more crucial in the current climate. Conversations about mental health will be happening nationwide today as part of the social movement organised by Time to Change to end the stigma surrounding speaking out about your problems and asking for help. Back in July 2019, the Press launched our We Need To Talk campaign to raise awareness of mental health, combat the stigma surrounding it and to support the agencies and charities trying to help those in crisis.
MORE than 80 per cent of people in Essex have seen their mental health decline due to gym closures, according to a new survey. The data was released today in line with the national mental health awareness campaign Time To Talk Day, demonstrate the impact the closures are having on the county. The survey was compiled by Nicky Mitchell, co-owner of Burnham-based gym Trackside Fitness, and Chelmsford-based mental health expert Sadie Restorick. The two businesswomen wanted to get a better idea of resident’s current activity levels and mental health. Of the 198 who took the survey, 87 per cent saw a decline in mental health, 63 per cent feel more isolated and anxious, 60 per cent feeling more depressed and nearly 20 per cent experienced an increase in thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
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With almost a year of lockdowns under our belt, Kate Lucey s new book, Get A Grip, Love, is perfectly timed. Reminding us that it s fine not to feel OK, Lucey sharing her strategies on how we can manage our mental health
We’re talking about mental health a lot more than we ever did. Which is a VERY GOOD THING and something author and journalist Kate Lucey knows all about. Because Lucey has been ‘officially’ depressed (as in, diagnosed) for six years. She’s experienced everything from bad therapy, knock-out meds, and friends-with-too-many-opinions, to good therapy, medication, and solutions that actually work. Working out how to get a grip is a topic Lucey has literally written a book on.
Photo credit: M@.
What s happening
We don t want to be melodramatic, but last year was Quite A Weird Year. And almost everybody we know, in one way or another, to some degree or another, has been experiencing the fallout of that, whether that s been on their physical health, their work-life balance, their relationships and often with an impact on their mental health.
In good news, though, the government seems confident that mental health problems (see also: stigmatisation of; discrimination against) are going to be solved by March, which is when they re ending funding for Time To Change.
The anti-stigma campaign led by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness will close as a result, after 15 years of work challenging the attitudes towards and isolation often experienced by people living with mental health problems.