People in Teesside reminded about importance of protecting mental health
Mental health charities say they're there to help
People in Teesside are being reminded about the importance of being able to protect their mental health in times of global instability.
It comes as today is World Mental Health Day and this year's theme is 'access to services - mental health in catastrophes and emergencies'.
Charities in Teesside that support mental health say they're there to help if anyone needs someone to talk to.
Leigh Trimble, chief executive of Red Balloons, said: "Month on month we get busier. We have more people accessing our services and I think there's a number of different reasons for that; I think there seems to be a lot of instability out there in the world, I think a lot of people are struggling with things like the cost of living, and I think we're still feeling the aftermath of Covid.
"If we're thinking about the theme of World Mental Health Day, a bit of advice I would give would be to limit what you are taking in from social media and news, and just be a little bit mindful there about the impact that these things are having on your mental health.
"If you're reading about catastrophies and emergencies that are going on in the world, I'm not suggesting that you need to cut them out completely, but you could limit what you're hearing and seeing but that's just piling extra stress on top of your extra anxiety, and often these are situations that you can do nothing about.
"It's OK not to feel OK and sometimes you will have days like that and then sometimes you'll have days when you're feeling OK and I think we all have to realise that, to a certain extent, that's life. But if you're struggling and you seem to be having more of those difficult days, just reach out and speak to somebody that you know you can trust.
"Often people don't feel that they've got anybody that they can talk to and they often feel like they don't want to be a burden on anybody, but that's where charities like Red Balloons come in, you can reach out, you're not going to be a burden on us, and we do understand because we've all got our own lived experience, so get in touch. We know we're going to be able to help you.
"In the world today, we're bombarded all of the time with lots of things going on in the world and there seems to be very little positivity there and I think it's very important for everybody, whether you're struggling with your mental health already or not, to be able to limit what they're hearing in terms of the bad news."