According to the National Health Service, approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. From depression and social anxiety to more complex psychological issues such as Borderline Personality Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder – mental health is undoubtedly one of the biggest epidemics facing our country and our NHS today.

While there is definitely an argument to be made that the current Conservative government is not prioritising mental health within their agenda – fixing this is vital, but is a short-term solution. A long-term solution requires getting down to the root of why so many people are developing such disorders, and why they are not feeling the benefits of relevant therapies and medication. 

What do we believe is one of the main reasons why we are seeing a snowball effect when it comes to mental disorders in the UK? People are generally not encouraged to talk about their mental health enough and when they do – they are not taken seriously. 

Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone, but as a whole it is clear that mental health isn’t treated with the same dignity or urgency as physical health. You walk into A&E with a broken leg? We’ll be with you right away. Suicidal thoughts? A suicide attempt? We’ll be with you in a minute.

Suffers are, in many cases, seen as ‘weak’ or ‘attention seeking’ without really learning why that person is feeling how they are and their background. Many people believe you need to just put on a ‘thick skin’ and ‘man up’ instead of accepting with and learning to deal with such feelings. It is a dangerous ideology.

We believe that in order to both break the stigma and stop so many cases ending in tragedy – we need to flip that ideology and promote confident and open discourse.

“A big part of getting better is through acceptance and acceptance alone.”

If you are a sufferer, or know someone suffering with mental health problems – we urge you to talk to someone. A friend, a family member, someone you trust – and most importantly a professional. There are great therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that can make real difference to people’s lives.

One of the initial steps we are encourage this discourse is getting primary and secondary schools to teach our children about mental health issues, the symptoms and the dangers from a young age. We know that discourse alone will not solve the problem, so we need to also push our government to finally treat mental health as seriously as it should be.

Please sign our petition to push for compulsory mental health education in primary and secondary schools:

https://www.change.org/p/the-rt-hon-jeremy-hunt-mp-make-mental-health-education-compulsory-in-all-uk-primary-and-secondary-schools

Use #PeaceOfMind to track and talk about our campaign on Twitter.

For more information about the campaign visit: peaceofmindcampaign.wordpress.com