🧠 World Mental Health Day 2025 – 10th October 2025 💜

The theme for this year is access to services – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies.

The aim is to highlight how crucial it is for us all to be able to protect our mental health, whatever we’re going through.

Today is a great reminder about the importance of talking and listening to one another about our mental health. But it can be difficult for us to take this step of opening-up or checking in with someone we care about so I've found some tips that might help us do this.

Tips for talking about your mental health :

Choose someone that you trust.

This might be a family member, friend, or even a colleague. You might feel more comfortable speaking to someone you don’t know. There are services available such as:

• Telephone or email - Mind offers a service 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).
• Telephone/email/letter/in person - Samaritans offers a service 24/7.
• Text (if you’d prefer not to talk) - Shout offers a service 24/7.
• Telephone - NHS 111 (option 2) offer a service 24/7 for any urgent support needs.

Plan the best place to talk.

It’s key to make sure you choose an environment you feel comfortable enough to talk openly - ideally somewhere private without disruptions. You might find it easier talking when doing an activity, such as taking a walk together.

Be prepared for how they might react.

This might sound scary because it’s the unknown. Hopefully you have a positive experience when opening up to someone you trust, but you might not receive the response you were expecting initially.

This could be for many reasons such as they might not understand or maybe need time to process it. It could be helpful to give them some information to read. It’s important throughout this that you take time for you and look after your feelings. It might feel overwhelming taking this first step, but it does get better.

Tips for talking to someone about their mental health 💜 :

Find a safe space to speak without distractions.

It’s important that if you’re worried about someone, you find a space to talk that will feel safe and secure, without distractions so you’re able to give them your full attention. It might be an idea to turn your phone off.

Be present; actively listen and ask questions.

Showing someone that you’re listening is a really important way to express that you’re there for them and care. Facing them and making eye contact, not interrupting and asking clarifying questions help to do this. It’s important to make sure your questions are appropriate and on topic, not changing the subject.

Ask them how you can support.

Rather than telling someone what they need to do next, ask how you can help or make suggestions. It might be that the person has an idea what they want to do next, such as

reaching out to their GP however they might want your support in doing this. Or maybe they might just want to keep things normal and talk about everyday life. The best way you can be there for someone is listening and acting on what they need from you.