Hooray! It’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Were you aware of that? I wasn’t but I am now. So, what’s it all about? Let’s ask our friends at the Mental Health Foundation:
‘Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign that takes place every year in May. This year it takes place 11-17 May 2026. It highlights the importance of good mental health, challenges stigma and promotes practical actions people can take to support their own wellbeing. It’s one of the most high-profile public health campaigns in the UK, reaching millions of people through media, workplaces, schools, and community events.’
Next, they explain why we need it:
‘Around one in five adults in the UK have a common mental health condition such as anxiety and depression. And this proportion is higher among young people aged 16-24. Poor mental health is one of the biggest drivers of workplace absence with millions of workdays missed due to poor mental health. With poor mental health affecting so many of us, even those who aren’t directly affected themselves are likely to know, love, work alongside or care for someone who does.’
That’s brilliant. I agree with every word. So what happens next?
The answer to this is not a lot. But allow me, for once, to be a little more positive.
I am not positive about Mental Health Week itself. It has a touch of the box being ticked about it. Have a week dedicated to mental health and then for the next 51 weeks we forget all about it. But actually, there is some good news to report.
I have friends who work for local NHS services. They have been telling me for years that while governments talk the talk about providing decent mental health treatment, they have not meant it, slashing existing services to ribbons. The new Labour government has invested many millions of pounds into improving services and they have already met their manifesto pledge to employ an additional 8500 mental health staff. While there are still long waiting lists for treatment, at long last they are decreasing. There are more appointments, there are more treatments available. At long last, we have a government that is taking mental health seriously.
I doubt that we will notice the improvements in mental health services for some years because the extra staff will need to be trained and deployed up and down the country. Hopefully, in the near future, people with mental health issues will get more from the NHS than a life on antidepressants and a few weeks of basic counselling.
It’s good to talk but action is better. And at long last we have action. Not before time.
