Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

Happy Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 everybody!

Mental Health Awareness week is one of the most important days in the Mental Health calendar, alongside Time to Talk day & World Mental Health Day, and occurs from the 10-16th May 2021. In today’s blog, we’ll be taking a look at this special week, what it stands for, and why it is so important for us to raise awareness for.

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Mental health is something that affects each & every one of us in its own way. Our Mental Health is made up of a number of different things, such as how we are feeling, the things that we like & dislike, our past & future experiences, how we work & relax, the list can simply keep on going. At its core, our Mental Health helps make us who we are as people, and is something that is so important for us all to talk about.

Mental Health Awareness week is a week dedicated to encouraging people to be open in talking about their Mental Health, and to help reduce the stigma which exists surrounding how we, as a collective, see the term ‘Mental Health’. Each year gets its own , with this years being all about ‘Nature’.

I really like this years theme, I feel like it is one that is very easy for a lot of people to get involved in. Going out for a walk and experiencing nature is an amazing way to relax for so many people, and it really helps them in managing their Mental Health. Nature helps provide us with a space to breathe, a time where we can simply switch off and to just be here, in the present.

Why is Mental Health Awareness week so important?

The Mental Health Organisation Mind have collected figures which revealed that around “1 in 4 people will experience a Mental Health problem of some kind each year in England”. These figures were collected back in 2007, and unfortunately this is a number which is probably a lot higher nowadays.

We have all experienced a truly difficult year for our Mental Health, due to COVID-19 & the subsequent lockdowns, it is completely okay to not be feeling okay. If you feel that your Mental Health has gotten better over the course of the past year, that’s okay too, and is a very good thing. We all react different to things, and that is normal, it’s human nature.

I talk about Mental Health a lot on this page, and that is because it is a topic that lies very close to my heart. My Mental Health has played a very large role in my life, and has helped shape me into the person that I am to this day. I’m not going to lie and say that my Mental Health journey has been easy, as it couldn’t be any further from it, but it is one that I am still learning to manage and come to terms with, and will do so for years to come.

Mental Health & Me

I am very open & honest about my Mental Health, and want to do things differently this year. Similarly to what I did for Time to Talk Day 2021, here is my experience with Mental Health:

“Hello, I am James Sweeney. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Severe Anxiety, Depression & PTSD Bursts, and they have become a part of my life to this day. There was a time where I was ashamed of my Mental Health but not anymore, I am proud of who I am, where I have come from, and where I am yet to go.”

I am very fortunate to be in the position I am currently in, where I can control and manage my Mental Health relatively well. Do I still have times where they can flare up? Of course I do, but this is okay, it’s something that I have come to accept and to be ready for.

If you do need help with your Mental Health, please do reach out. I can safely say that I would not have gotten to where I am today without all of the help & support that I have received over the years. We can get through this, by supporting each and other and moving forward together, you’ve got this!

Before I close off today’s blog, I do want to say that Mental Health Awareness week is fantastic, but that’s not to say that raising awareness surrounding Mental Health should just be a thing we do once a year. If this week is used to help start those truly meaningful conversations, then that is cause for celebration in its own right. I do hope you all have a lovely week though!

Thank you all for reading today’s blog, what do you think? Are you going to be celebrating Mental Health Awareness week? What does Mental Health mean to you? What do you think of this years theme of ‘Nature’? Would you like to see more Mental Health blogs on the page?

Be sure to let me know your thoughts and answers to the above questions, either in the comments below or through our Facebook page!,

Thank you all for reading & I hope you have a great day!