A lot of people are scared of talking about their feelings or emotions. This is particularly apparent in British culture. So heaven forbid anyone talks about mental health/ illness. Depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders or suicide are things to be talked about behind the closed doors of a sterile counsellors room with the obligatory box of issues, dead plant and some peculiar looking piece of art which I'm sure is meant to calm you but does anything but.
Wrong. This is the wrong attitude to have. Talking about mental health should be as common as talking about the weather. Which for us Brits should be pretty bloody common. But we don't. We have this stiff upper lip which needs to change.
This Thursday (1st February) is the charity's Time to Change, Time to Talk Day, in which they encourage and spread awareness of the importance of talking about mental health. Everyone can and should get involved with this incredibly important day. Whether you are at school, uni or work, you can get involved and spread awareness. If it's too late to organise an event for the big day, don't worry you can still encourage the people around you in your local community or friendship circle to start talking about mental health. Whether you talk to one person or 100- nothing is too big or too small. However, everything you do is important.