Holding on to hope

On Saturday we should all make an effort to mark World Mental Health Day; whether it’s asking how a family member, friend or neighbour is keeping or taking a few minutes to assess our own wellbeing.

We are not going to completely solve problems or soothe worries in one single annual awareness day, but even a small step can be very significant in helping others and ourselves.

A recent study found that the financial crises is a contributory factor in at least one-in-five suicides in middle-aged men across the North.

Many households are staring poverty in the face and yet to the outside world, these people are forced to present a happy smiling face for their children and work colleagues.

We have just lived through a pandemic, yet it still seems that everywhere we look we see the word ‘crisis’ – be it cost of living, the war in Ukraine, the state of the health service. It’s enough to test the most resilient of characters.

Depression and anxiety is clearly a frightening reality for many people in these demanding times.

But there is help available from our GPs and other health services, local mental health charity groups and, of course, family and friends.

The North’s new Mental Health Strategy Delivery Plan for 2022/23 was welcome progress in bringing parity between mental health illness and other physical ailments and diseases. It’s crucial that this momentum is maintained despite the major impediment of having no functioning Executive at Stormont.

World Mental Health Day is a force for good; it’s a message of hope and solidarity that is as relevant in communities across Tyrone as any other part of the world.