A NEW mental health campaign has launched today – World Mental Health Day – to help break down the stigma associated with mental health and encourage people to seek help when they need it.

This co-produced campaign, led by attendees of Mental Health Chat in partnership with East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s public health team and other partner organisations across the region, aims to reduce stigma and encourage people to seek help earlier rather than waiting until they reach crisis.

Mental health conditions affect more than 25 per cent of people at any time and no other health condition matches this in terms of prevalence, persistence and breadth of impact.

Every week, one in six of us faces a common mental health problem such as depression or anxiety. If it’s not ourselves, it’s our children, parents, siblings, colleagues or neighbours.

Healthy Minds in East Riding was created to better help the residents of the East Riding to improve their mental health, recognise when they might be starting to struggle and know where and when to seek support.

Lindsay Hudson, public health lead for mental health and suicide prevention at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “Everyone has mental health, we want this campaign to encourage people to take steps to improve their mental health and the mental health of people around them.

“Being mentally healthy is an important part of a healthy lifestyle – it’s just as important as eating healthily and exercising.”

Hayley, a Mental Health Chat user, said: “I was really keen to be involved in the East Riding mental health awareness campaign. We all have mental health, so it's important to raise awareness of that and how we can look after it.

“Too many people still struggle alone and too many lives are lost so it's important that we come together in our area to help people know what help is available and to break the stigma around mental health problems so that more people feel that they can reach out for help sooner.”

The campaign has launched today and an informative leaflet will be delivered to all East Riding homes to ensure everyone knows when and how to get help if they, or someone they know, needs it.

Following this there will be a targeted programme of work with various groups such as employers and schools to further embed the campaign messages.

For more information visit https://eastridinghealthandwellbeing.co.uk/healthy-minds/