Mental Health Awareness Week

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and the theme this year is action, because while awareness matters, real change only comes when we act on it. 

To mark this, I met with my constituent, Alina Marinca, who has just finished an outstanding research project on children’s mental health. Too many young people in our community are struggling to access the support they need, whether through schools, GPs or specialist services, and the waiting times have been too long for too many years. I wanted to hear directly about their experience and what needs to change to deliver more effective mental health support for our young people. From speaking to Alina, it was insightful to hear more about the impacts of sleep disturbance as an underlying factor for many mental health conditions, and the role that social media can play in impacting mental health.

If you or your family are affected by mental health difficulties, I would encourage you to reach out. You can contact your GP, or call the NHS mental health helpline on 111 and select the mental health option.

Young people can also access support through Young Minds (youngminds.org.uk) or by texting YM to 85258. And as always, if you would like to discuss mental health services in our area or share your insights, please do send me an email.