World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day takes place on 10 October, and for 2021 we will be highlighting "mental health in an unequal world".  

For those of us experiencing mental illness, we live in an unequal world. There’s no two ways about it. Stigma. Discrimination. Lack of support. Limited access to housing, employment and welfare. It doesn’t make good reading.

Things are slowly starting to change. Stigma around some mental health issues such as anxiety and depression have improved, the NHS Long Term Plan has committed to creating a community model of mental health care and the government is in the process of reforming the Mental Health Act. But, put bluntly, this is nowhere near enough.

Black people are still four times more likely than their white counterparts to be sectioned. LGBT+ people are at more risk of suicidal behaviour and self-harm than non-LGBT+ people. People living with severe mental illness still have a shorter life expectancy than others. And the government have just cut the crucial £20 uplift in Universal Credit, plunging thousands of people across the country into debt.

This is the reality of mental health in an unequal world. This is inequality. And it has to change.

This World Mental Health Day, we’re providing a voice to the people experiencing this inequality. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, to listen, read, watch and share Because the only way we can make change is together.