Every year, 10 October is designated World Mental Health Day, a time to educate and raise awareness of mental illness and its major effects on people’s lives worldwide.

So, although the day itself was earlier this week, it’s particularly appropriate that on Sunday the Girls Around Town will be turning the spotlight on Newark MIND and The Newark Carers Group.

You’re probably thinking mental illness is something that happens to other people, that it’s nothing for you to worry about. But according to the World Health Organisation, ‘if we don’t act urgently, by 2030 depression will be the leading illness globally’.

And other statistics from The Mental Health Foundation include the following

• Mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain
• As many as 10 per cent of people in England will experience depression in their lifetime
• Ten per cent of mothers and six per cent of fathers in the UK have mental health problems at any given time
• One in five teenagers will experience a mental health problem in any given year

Join June, Tina and Sue when they meet Shirley Novak and Sarah Robinson, who’ll be talking about the services and support Newark MIND and the Newark Carers Group give to those experiencing mental health and emotional issues and to their carers and families.

Tune in or listen online from 10am to 12 noon to hear how local businesses and schools in the Newark area are getting involved, along with information about the new Let’s Work Together campaign being launched on Monday and the second Healthy Minds Week for schools next month…