Mental Health Matters

NHS England and NHS Improvement has launched a new campaign to encourage anyone experiencing feelings such as anxiety, depression, or other common mental health concerns to seek help through NHS Talking Therapies. 

Backed by some of the UK’s biggest artists, and using the iconic Beatles song ‘Help!’, the campaign will encourage people struggling with their mental health to seek support.

‘Help!’, written by John Lennon in 1964, was credited by the superstar songwriter as one of his most honest and genuine songs and with lyrics like ‘Help me if you can I’m feeling down’, the song is the ideal soundtrack to get others thinking about their mental health.

Following a national survey carried out by NHS England and Improvement in 2020/21, 427 of the 3,000 people who took part were from the South East. 52% of the 427 people said they were concerned about their mental health, with half experiencing stress (50%), 48% experiencing anxiety and 49% of people experiencing low mood or depression. The majority of those who struggled (68%) also did not seek any professional help for their mental health.

However, since April 2020, over 230,000 people in the South East have come forward for NHS talking therapies. This number is expected to increase as those who were surveyed said they were more conscious of their mental health this year, with 52% of the 427 surveyed planning to focus on their mental health in 2022.

The NHS is encouraging anybody experiencing anxiety, depression, or other common mental health concerns to come forward and see how talking therapies can help them.

NHS mental health talking therapies are a confidential service run by fully trained experts and can be accessed by self-referral or through your GP.

Please click here if you would like to self-refer.