World Mental Health Day 2025

Mental health issues do not discriminate and can affect anyone, rich, poor, young or old and it is thought that half of the world’s population will experience a mental health disorder at some stage. Putting that into perspective means that around half of your colleagues have been, will be or perhaps are, going through a crisis. Sadly, many still feel shame or worry about asking for help and they often see themselves as weak, when in fact asking for help is a strength.

Every year, World Mental Health Day has a theme. This year's theme is 'Access to Services - Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies', highlighting the importance of mental health issues in times of global instability, something that given recent events now has perhaps a greater priority and will impact many more people. That said, you do not really need a theme to talk about mental health or even a special day.  Opening up discussions by asking simple questions, which helps with removing the perceived ‘shame’ of the subject, will further destigmatise what for some can be a very debilitating and serious issue. Whilst it is easy to bring other illnesses to the fore, mental health issues are less easy to understand. This should not be the case, so make this Friday and indeed every day, count.