Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is the UK’s national week to raise awareness of mental health and mental health problems and inspire action to promote the message of good mental health for all.
Mental Health Awareness Week provides an annual national focus point for mental health – raising awareness and equipping people with tools and information to take action. Founded in 2001 by the Mental Health Foundation, the event has become one of the biggest mental health awareness events in the world.
The Mental Health Foundation leads the week, setting an annual theme and contributing to UK-wide research, evidence and debate on this theme each year.
The theme for 2019: The theme for 2019 will be Body Image – how we see ourselves and how that makes us feel.
In a UK-wide stress survey in 2018, the Mental Health Foundation found that three in ten people felt so stressed by their body image and appearance at some point in the past year that they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.
Nearly half (47%) of all 18-24 year olds felt this way about their body image as did almost one in five (18%) people aged 55 and over.
This is an issue that affects us all throughout our lives. Our body modvigil image can change as our bodies change – whether that’s in puberty, or in later life. Our sex, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and the way we, and the world sees our diversity can all play a part.
What do we want to achieve?
We want to raise greater awareness about the relationship between body image and mental health at all stages in life. We want to take action to provide help and advice for people who may struggle with body image issues or know others who do. And we want to tackle the impact of body image issues through meaningful action across health, public and policy domains.
To launch the week we will release comprehensive new research on this issue.
When: Monday 13 – Sunday 19 May 2019
The Mental Health Foundation’s research report on body image will be published on 00.01am Monday 13 May 2019